Story of Leigh Schmal
by operaghost96
Summary: Companion fic to "Welcome to True Cross" by MeiMeiaru8  story from Leigh's POV . I don't own the plot. She's just a normal 16-year-old girl with anger issues...yeah,right. But what's the fun of being normal?
1. Chapter 1

"Leigh," My older brother, Charles shocked me out of my book and scared me. It was Saturday night. He should've been…out, just like every Saturday since his 21st birthday. For some reason, I got really mad, and suddenly, a knife was coming at him. I didn't even own a knife. I stared in horror, willing the knife flying for between his eyes to stop. It dropped to the ground. Charles stared at me, terrified. "What _are_ you?" he asked me, too scared and repulsed by his own 14-year-old sister to look away.

"I don't know," I muttered, still in shock. "I really don't know." He left as quickly as he could. I turned from my book, and back to my computer. I was researching schools in Japan. I wanted to study out of country, to get away from my tiny Pennsylvania town, and Japan seemed most interesting. I sighed. On to the next school website.

True Cross Academy. I clicked on the "courses" page. Math, biology, music, physics, etc. The usual. I decided to look at the biology, but then another tab under the "courses" page appeared. It was called "Cram School". Thinking it was a program for students to graduate early, I clicked on it. It lead to another website. Thankfully, it was in English. I closed the online translator.

The introduction to the website was odd. "Do you see monsters? Do they torment you at all hours of the night? Do you want to become stronger to protect those you love? Join the Exorcist Cram School at True Cross Academy! Always taking new students! Contact Headmaster Mephisto Pheles here." It had a link. That was strange. I saw those monsters as long as I could remember, but they rarely, if ever bothered me. The really little black ones wouldn't come within 5 feet of me. However, I _did_ want to become stronger. I _would_ become an exorcist. I dialed the number on my cell phone. It rung twice and someone picked up.

"Hello," I said, tentative of speaking to an exorcist.

"Hello," the voice on the other end replied. He seemed friendly enough.

"Is this Headmaster Mephisto Pheles of True Cross Academy Cram School?"

"Yes, it is. And to whom am I speaking?"

"Leigh Schmal. I was wondering if you would be willing to accept students from America into your school."

"Why, of course! There is one problem though. You need to fluently speak, read, and write in Japanese. We never had any students from outside the country, and would be glad to have you. Contact me again when you know Japanese thoroughly. Goodbye!"

"Thank you for your time. Goodbye." He then hung up. I was then hell-bent (no pun intended) on becoming an exorcist at True Cross Academy. That day I purchased the Rosetta Stone program for Japanese.

It had been almost two years since that day. I'm 16 now. Of course, I finally got control over my knives and other abilities I had gained since then. I knew Japanese inside and out. It was time to make the call. Just like he had two years ago, he picked up on the third ring.

"Hello?"

"Headmaster Pheles?" I asked in Japanese.

"Yes," he responded, and followed suit.

"I'm not sure if you remember me, it's Leigh Schmal from two years ago. I was wondering if that invitation is still standing." I waited for him to remember.

"Ah, yes. Of course, Miss Schmal. I will send an official letter for your acceptance from True Cross. I will need to know what you will study and your address."

I told him my address, and that I wanted to study Biology and Music.

"Alright. I will pick you up myself. Do you have anything else I should know about you?"

"Yes, but I'm not about to tell you over an open phone line."

"Yes, yes. Of course. I will get a dorm room ready for you."

A couple of days later, my acceptance letter arrived. Since my parents were out of town for the weekend, Charles, Michelle (my sister), and my friends threw me a "going away" party. I got some hair dye from one of my friends. Of course, I have been talking about dying my hair black with red streaks for a while. Some of my other friends pooled their money to get me some ripped jeans, which I have also wanted to wear for a while, and purple Converses. Another friend of mine got me some fingerless gloves which I have loved since I saw them in a shop window. Finally, my brother gave me an iPod, filled with my favorite bands that he introduced me to, like the Offspring, Taking Back Sunday, Senses Fail, and ADTR. That was never leaving my side. It reminded me of the times that we would be riding in his old, beat up Chevy truck listening to music, not the times when he would be coming home at 3 a.m., stumbling through the door, wrecking any trust I ever felt with him and anyone else-_don't think about Charles like that, especially after what he gave you, and that you're going to leave soon,_ I mentally chided myself. So what if I can't trust anyone again. It won't be a big problem.

The party ended, and my friends said their last goodbyes, not a dry eye among them. Or on me, for that matter. Who would rip Ashley's throat out after she got in a fight with Angel? Who would scare the living hell out of anyone who picked on India for being blind? Who would-_they're going to be alright, _one of the voices in my head comforted me. No, I'm not crazy; I have 2 people other than me living in my head, only I wouldn't call them people. They're old, practically as old as time itself, and I could sense the power in them since they started living in my head a year ago. I concluded they're angels, because they're generally benign in nature and one of them is really protective. I think the protective one might be Saint Michael, the Archangel, Prince of the Heavenly host, and the other one might be Raphael, another Archangel.

A few days after the party, a pink limo pulled up my driveway. I was enjoying my last sunset in America, and I would never get used to the way the red light would cast silhouettes of the trees, making them mysterious and beautiful. Out of the limousine came a man in a clown suit with green eyes and slit pupils. He had black hair and pointed ears and teeth. He reminded me of a character from a book I read, named Magnus Bane, the character I mean.

"Hello!" he yelled, and it was the exact same voice on the phone. I expected Headmaster Pheles to be different, but this was just a whole new level of weird. "I am Johann Faust the Fifth, head of True Cross Academy," he introduced himself to my parents, who were surprised to say the least. I could tell they were going to ask why someone as important as the headmaster of a prestigious school overseas would pick up a new student, when he said, "Because your daughter is the first student from out of country to attend my school, I decided to pick her up myself."

I said goodbye to my parents, brother, and sister, and headed into the limo with him. After we started driving, I explained to him about the angels, the knives, and my other abilities. He seemed startled, because apparently two of the most important archangels usually wouldn't see fit to inhabit one person. After that, he explained Assiah and Gehenna, which Michael had told me about numerous times, so I just sat there daydreaming and remembering.

_It was after our family reunion, 3 years ago. Charles went out for his 21__st__ birthday with our cousins, Mark and Justin. I had to go to bed around midnight, because my dad didn't want me to see my brother drunk. I thought it was a one-time thing. It wasn't. I was destroyed. I vowed never to trust anyone again for fear of that happening again. It was about 1 year ago. It was 2 a.m. I couldn't sleep. He came home, smelling of alcohol. I cried myself to sleep. It was about 2 weeks after. He got over his hangover at noon. I was mad. I hated seeing him drink like that. He could tell I was mad, he asked me why, and I told him that seeing him drunk like that every week really hurt. He told me he'd never go out again. The next week, he went to another bar. He lied to my face._

_This was about 7 years ago. Charles was getting ready to graduate high school. I grew depressed at the thought, and started crying. He came upstairs, and asked me what was wrong. I told him that after he finished high school and college, he would move out and never come back. He told me he'd still come home, and that he'd never leave me. It was about 4 years ago. It was a Friday, and he was picking me up from a bad day at school. He put on ADTR's The Downfall of us All to make me feel better. When I think about it, he was always there for me with an open ear and a new band or song to help me._

I looked out the window. The limo was flying! I thought in amazement, and then it dawned on me. The limo was flying. Ugh. I'm sorry, but when the best experiences you have of heights are sheets of plywood iced over without a rail keeping you 13 feet from the ground, you aren't a fan of heights.

Soon after, Japan was in view. The limo started to descend. It stopped in the middle of a town, which he called Academy Town, gave me a key that would lead to the Cram School, and showed me to class. My first class was called Demon Pharmacology. Because I wanted to become a doctor, not as a Meister, but as an actual job, I hoped to do well in it. I sat by a shy blond girl with green eyes, a kimono and a little green guy on her shoulder, because it was either her or the snobby girl in pigtails with her mousey lackey, the Emo Kid who would probably not make it past Page, the weird blondish kid with a puppet, or the 4 kids racing zu-zu pets and jumping at them with screwdrivers. Gee, I wonder.

After Mephisto left, he came with another new student and coughed. "Ah-hm."

Our teacher, Mr. Okumura, who was younger than me (which totally rubbed me the wrong way, being taught by someone my age) said formally, "Oh, hello sir. Sorry for the little problem here."

"Wow," I muttered, "someone has a stick shoved up where the sun don't shine." The blond girl looked at me with astonishment, while the kid with the black hair tried hard not to laugh. At least someone thinks I'm funny.

"What are these?" Mephisto held up the small robot. "Never mind that." He claps, everyone diverting their attention to him.

"Good. You may go on." He walks out and leaves the girl behind. I take a closer look. She has green hair tied back in a braid (colored?), a sky blue Lolita dress with billow sleeves, and blue combat boots. If nothing else, I liked her choice in footwear.

"This is Muki Yuka. She's new here and I don't want any trouble. Now, why don't we all sit down and talk about dekalps?" Yuki looks at everyone but they all were surrounding the odd looking girl. Shiemi (the blond girl I was sitting by) and Muki both were giggling over something and pointing at each other's dresses. He smiled. Looks like there won't be any problems here.

"After class, why don't I show you around for a bit?"

"I like that very much," Muki smiles but then glances down at something, "Aww! That is so kawaii! What's its name?"

"That's Nee. He's my familiar." Nee jumps onto Muki's bow, swinging on the ribbon. She giggled but suddenly stopped when a dark figure shadows over the two girls.

"Why are you here?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Blue Exorcist. I do not own this plot. I do not own Muki, Imi, or Nami. I only own Leigh. I don't own Michael or Raphael either. They're angels. They belong only to God.**

"What are you doing here?" Imi Suru asked. I saw him around the campus and introduced myself as Leigh Schmal. I sensed some bad blood between him and Muki. He had dyed blue hair, jeans, and a black t-shirt with a blue dragon. Classic bad boy. Of course, I would die before I let anyone know I had a thing for bad boys.

Muki glared back at him. "Your father let me come here."

He wore a smug smirk. Why did I like bad boys again? "He's also your father."

By now, Muki looked ready to strangle him. "Oh, is he?"

I was really getting annoyed by this, although I like to watch a totally one-sided fight as much as the next girl, they were interrupting one of my favorite songs, "Rum is for drinking, not for burning", by Senses Fail. No one interrupted my music, so I paused it, left the earbuds in, and hissed, "Imi, aren't you supposed to go follow Nami around like the good little mutt you are?" I was so ready for a fight, but because I got mad I could feel a dagger on its way out of thin air, so I put my hand in my hoodie pocket so it looked like I just brought it with me.

He finally looked at me with hatred. Good. I was striking a nerve. "Hello, Leigh. What, graveyard getting too cold for you?"

I pulled the beautiful black dagger out. I usually preferred to make my weapons out of meteorite. "Actually, no. I just came here to tell you that you have a seat reserved in He**. Are you planning to use it or are you going to become friends with the floor?" With that he walked to me and we began a glare-off. I was winning, until that annoying, wimpy girlfriend of his, Nami, yelled out. I would get my revenge on her. It would have been a fun fight.

"Imi-kun! Where are you?" Yelled Nami, a girl who could only be described as my exact opposite. Bleached hair, a fake tan, enough makeup to shame a clown, and heels that looked like something they tortured you with. It was a complete mystery as to why she was here. The bimbo was afraid of her own shadow. She pulls him away, talking about the annoying but delicious rodents known as bunnies she saw on the grounds.

Muki turned to me. "Thank you. You really didn't have to do that."

I shrugged, not wanting to say that I was looking forward to fighting Imi. "It's nothing. I'm Leigh Schmal from America, by the way."

"You're from America? I always wanted to go there!" Uh-ho. I sense an onslaught of questions. I was right. "How's it like? What are the people like? Are hot dogs really made out of dog?" I could practically see the anime sparkle in her eyes and feel the sweat drop on me.

I tried to answer the questions in order. "Um, it's okay, the people are different, and no, the hot dogs aren't really made out of dog. At least, I hope they aren't." I added the last part, thinking of my yellow lab/golden retriever mix, Cody. Say what you like about me, but I have a soft spot for dogs. I sat back down next to Shiemi as class officially started.

Muki started whispering to me, asking more about America. I could only speak for my little corner of the woods in Pennsylvania, and the other cities I visited on vacation. "Are the hamburgers really made out of ham?" I was starting to get angry. I was trying to study and pay attention.

"No, they're just beef." I tried to keep a lid on my anger.

"But why are they called hamburgers if there is no ham?"

I was wound like a top. "Look, why don't you ask me all of this later. Right now, we have class."

She managed to keep quiet for a record time of five minutes. "Is the,"

I snapped. "Will you just shut it?" It might have been just me, but it looked like the pouch that held Rin's (the kid with black hair and blue eyes') sword looked like it was shaking. Oops. Anger issues strike again!

Muki looked scared. "Sorry," she mumbled meekly.

We were heading to the girls' dorm (apparently, we were roommates) with Shiemi after class was over. "WILL YOU EVER QUIT IT?" I half-yelled. That sent Muki crashing into Shiemi, almost causing them to fall. In a way, Shiemi reminded me of a friend back home, Angel. Before I met her, I didn't know that it was physically possible to trip over air, or to literally be a ball magnet. She taught me how to defy the laws of physics.

"Sorry, it's just that you and Shi are the only best friends I've ever had. I mean, I've had other friends, but they just disappeared." Uh-oh. Best friends means I had to trust her. I was a bit lacking in that department after Charles-_don't you dare think about Charles' bad habit_. I hated even thinking about it.

I decided to play it cool and said, "Look, since you ask me all these questions, I get to ask you some? Like first, is that your real hair color?" I flicked the dark green braid.

"Yep. I don't know why but I do eat a lot of veggies. I guess they were right about you becoming what you eat." She swung her bookbag.

Remembering the stress between Imi and Muki, I asked, "What about Imi? What did he mean about his father being yours?"

She obviously didn't like that question. She was another person who wasn't a fan of her brother. I had a friend in that sense. "Oh, it's nothing," she mumbled.

Shiemi was steadily back on her feet. "Come on you two! Cheer up! I'll show you my grandmother's garden! It's really pretty around this time of year!" She visibly perked Muki up, and me, too, at least a little. I've been working in my family's garden every summer since I could walk, but we usually only planted crops, like beans and onions.

Muki, in her infinite wisdom, in the middle of campus, said, "Race you!" She might as well have worn a sign saying, "Let me trip over you!"

Please Review. The plot belongs to MeiMeiaru8.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Blue Exorcist. I do not own this plot. I do not own Muki, Imi, Hirotaka, or Nami. I only own Leigh. I don't own Michael or Raphael either. They're angels. They belong only to God.**

"Race you!" Muki, I thought to myself, you will be the death of me.

Shiemi was, for once, the voice of reason when it came to grace. "No, Muki! Watch out!" She ended up bumping into a tall guy with black hair, blue highlights, and gorgeous hazel eyes, or rather, eye, because I couldn't see the right one through his hair. He wore a cross earring, a long-sleeved red shirt, a black sleeveless jacket with white lining around the zipper, the pockets, and the ends of the nonexistent sleeves, and black fingerless gloves with white crosses on them. He was okay, I guess. _There's something not right about him. It's not just his firebird familiar, but he reeks of demon. Let me at him,_ Michael urged. For the Prince of the Heavenly Host, he was a little eager to fight. Lucky people without archangels in their heads. But Michael was right. Something was a little bit off about him, but I wouldn't tell anyone.

Muki was giving a nice, friendly smile. "Hi! What's your name?"

"Hirotaka Akino," he said while the sparrow on his shoulder was giving me a death glare. I may not be an angel, but it could obviously sense the ones in my head. I tried to give it a friendly smile, and its gaze softened a little bit to look at all of us.

Muki, the unofficial welcome committee to everyone new who she didn't hate, said, "Mine's Muki Yuma. This is Leigh Schmal and Shiemi." I swear, if that girl didn't stop introducing me as "Leigh Schmal," instead of just "Leigh", I will probably send a bunch of knives flying at her. I wouldn't be surprised if she introduced me to a squirrel. I just zoned out, trying to put my finger on what was wrong with him. Besides, "Existing in a Crisis" by Bayside was on. I was not on planet Earth anymore.

By the time the song was done, Muki turned on to "question onslaught" mode, but it wouldn't be as bad with him. "What's your favorite color? Where do you live? Where did you come from? Can I call you Ni-Chan? Do you want to be my friend?"

Poor Hirotaka tried to answer all the questions in order. "Blue, in the dorms, here, and sure?"

I sensed another wave of questions coming, so I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away. Demon or not, no one deserved to receive Muki's interrogation. Still happy at meeting someone she liked, even as I was dragging her away, she yelled, "Bye! See you tomorrow!"

"Why am I stuck with her?" I muttered under my breath. Muki was nice and fun to be around, but she was not good with first impressions.

I was stuck. Not just in the mental or emotional sense, but in the physical sense, also, because the girl with tiny eyebrows and pigtails decided to get in a fight with the gorgeous boy training to be an Aria and a Dragoon because her mousey lackey quit cram school and almost got wasted by a demon. So our kid teacher with the pole up his butt decided to exercise what he called "collective responsibility". In other words, he didn't just punish the two of them because they couldn't be trusted to be put in the same room together without killing each other. Anyways, I made it to the exam to become an ExWire and I was stuck, because the punishment was some sort of demon that got heavier as time wore on. If that didn't drive my angel sense crazy, the fact that I was sitting near Rin made it worse. The guy was nice and fun to be around, but Michael always wanted me to waste him, and even put Raphael on edge. It took everything I had to keep them in my head and not coming out of my body. That happened once. Poor tree. They were only out for a second. When I looked at it, it was 200.

Muki was quiet for a whole 10 minutes (new record!) before having enough of the blessed silence and saying, "Leigh, why do the rocks look like old men in pain?" If it weren't for the rock, I might have strangled her. I liked her, but she asked _way_ too many questions, like 'do you still have a family?' (I told her yes) 'Do you have siblings? (I said a brother and a sister) and one that really got me mad: (do you like your brother? Which I maxed out the volume on the iPod for). Looking at her right now, I wondered why I let her out of the dorm. She wore a cosplaying outfit that had a yellow star with a black studded belt. It was a miracle she didn't get picked on for that outfit. Apparently the show, anime, whatever was called eater something. Hey, I was listening to ADTR. That crap is loud.

"Oh, really?" Suguro yelled. Since he was arguing with Izumo, and the hair, the piercings, and the glare really made him a classic rebel, I was totally on his side.

Rin, who was put between Suguro and Izumo, was losing his temper and said "can you stop argue over me?"

Renzo, who was pointing at the window, got our attention, said, "Hey, look guys. That isn't real, is it?" Only me and Rin looked over.

Rin looked like he was ready to drop a load in his pants. "Uh, yeah, that's real." It burst through the door and it was grotesque, with hands growing all over its body. _Naberius, _Michael snarled, _let me at it. _Later, I told him, once they can't see me. Apparently, for once, he was pleased with the gamble.

"Ew!" Muki shrieks and grabs my hands. Well, she wasn't as bad as Nami, who screamed and was passed out, drooling on the floor. Shiemi's familiar, I think its name was Nee, created a branch barrier.

I was impressed. "I never thought that little guy could make that." Shemi rewarded me with a rare smile.

Rin was already near the wall with Muki when he said, "There's two of them! I'll distract them!" He headed out with her hard on his heels. I only saw one go after them. Hey Michael, I thought, play time. But you can only take part of the forefront of my mind. He was happy with the compromise. I went through the wall.

I knew that with one drop of blood, I could summon a lesser angel, or with my permission, I could release Michael into the physical world, but the others could see me. So I just slashed at it with the sharpest dagger I ever made. Suguro was on the 21st chapter of John, and Michael didn't like it that a Buddhist monk was reciting a Christian text, so he retreated back into my head.

Finally, the lights come on and Suguro finds the Fatal Verse for the Naberius. Rin and Muki come in, with barely a scratch. "I see you guys aren't hurt," Rin says, obviously content that everyone had a pulse.

I really wanted to help Shiemi, because just by touching her, I could cure anything short of demon poisoning. But because there were people around, I couldn't. Muki points to Shiemi and asks me, "Is she okay?" while I was helping her up. Lord be praised, she directed a relevant question at me!

"You all pass," said none other than the Mole (my new nickname for Yukio. Shiemi got mad but Muki laughed when I told them) as he and Ni-chan walked in.

"Hiya Ni-Chan! What are you doing here?" Muki asks just as another guy drops from the ceiling.

Rin looked shocked. "Hey, you're the-" he was cut off by Mephisto's boot.

"Did you really think I would let a high-level demon into my school without knowing?" He claps and exorcists come out all over the place, even the floorboards.

"You mean this is a test?" We asked simultaneously.

He looked at us like we were the crazy ones. "Of course. What else would it be?"

Please Review. Plot belongs to MeiMeiaru8.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Blue Exorcist. I do not own this plot. I do not own Muki, Imi, Hirotaka (who belongs to Shiroikage), Nami, Spyro (who belongs to MewStar0013), or Hotaru (who belongs to ShadowFalcon). I only own Leigh. I don't own Michael or Raphael either. They're angels. They belong only to God.**

The fact that we were officially ExWires excited everyone, but I kept a lid on how happy I really was. Muki, however, had no such inclination. In fact, she squealed, "We're finally ExWires!" and almost started to run and jump around the room.

"Don't you think you should drink decaf?" I whispered to her.

She got that fake surprised look. "There's such a thing as decaf? Since when?" For lack of a better term, I face desked.

When I looked up there was someone near an empty desk. "Does anybody sit here?" She asked. I knew it was a girl because a have a friend like her, as in, she likes to dress in boys' clothes. She had short reddish hair, green eyes, and naturally tan, unlike Nami. She had a navy blue t-shirt with a red star pin and green collar and a black vest with a red ribbon around her neck. On her belt she wore two guns. It was pretty obvious what Meister she was going for.

Muki said, "Nope! No one sits there. Except for maybe a ghost." She paused. "Are you a girl or a boy?"

Leave it to Muki to ask something that rude. "That isn't nice to ask someone," I hissed behind my Demon Pharmacology textbook.

The girl looked totally alright with the question. "That's alright. I get that a lot. My name is Hotaru Kagami."

She saw an opening to make friends. "Mine's Muki Yaka!" Great. She saw an opening to introduce me yet again. "This is Shiemi and the one behind the book," I scowled at her, "her name's Leigh Schmal!"

I told her, "You don't have to introduce me to everyone. Yesterday you even introduced me to a squirrel." Yes, that which I had made a joke of actually happened. I tried to give her the glare where my eyes go from blue to gray and they see it happen, which always shuts her up, but she just ignored it.

Hirotaka sneaks up behind us, while I hear him coming. "I see you're in this class." Shiemi, Muki, and Hotaru all jump out of their seats while I roll my eyes he needs to get quieter. I was listening to Linkin Park's "Papercut" and I heard him coming.

"Really Hirotaka, more ninja moves?" I turn around to face him. He was okay looking, but way to nice for me. Maybe for Hotaru, she seemed pretty nice…

"Hiya Ni-chan! Are you in this class with us?" Muki hugs him, while Hotaru makes the Mole look relaxed. He looks at her and walks away. Muki turns to her, with a smug grin. "You like him, don't you?" Hotaru follows my lead and starts reading her book, totally unaware that she's reading the Glossary, upside down. I wanted to laugh. I really did. But I restrained myself.

"No I don't," she mumbled but it wasn't convincing with her blush and eyes casually following him. I zoned again.

Muki obviously saw that she was going nowhere in that direction, so she turned to me and asked, "Leigh, do you want to go back to America? And if you do, I wanna go with you!"

I glared. "We will discuss that later." In other words, I didn't want her to see Charles on Saturday nights.

The Mole coughed. "Since you all hardly know each other, I thought we should try to get to know each other." He looked at Hotaru. "Why don't you start?"

_Thank God, _I thought, _I can listen to music in peace. _I looked behind me to make sure no one would rat me out. Suguro: gave me a sullen glare like everyone else. So hot. I'd have to hang out with him sometime. Renzo: trying to see if Hotaru had noticeable breasts. Pervert. Konekomaru: trying to snap Renzo out of it. Nice guy. Emo Kid: playing on PSP. Miracle he (maybe she) passed the ExWire exam. Puppet kid: talking to his puppet. Don't even get me started on him. Painter of the Familiars (Spyro Watashnie): doodling in his notebook. He had a pale blue eye and a brown eye, freckles, long white hair, and a school uniform. Princess Eyebrows (Izumo, princess because of her attitude, and eyebrows because, well, let's not state the obvious): staring into space. That girl needed therapy. Shiemi: looking at the Mole dreamily. Muki: excited to learn about everyone. Rin: drooling on the desk.

I put in the earbuds and pushed 'random'. All was fine until: "I AM NOT YOUR F-ING SISTER! SHUT UP OR I'LL POUR BOILING MAPLE SYRUP DOWN YOUR SHIRT!" That Muki. After that, Spyro talked about himself. Then Muki. My turn. I decided to stay as cryptic as possible because whatever I told any of them, I would be exponentially increasing their knowledge about me. I sighed. "I have a _brother_ and a sister who are 8 and 6 years older than me. I want to go for Knight. I'm left-handed." I said the word 'brother' with distain and Rin obviously noticed.

"What about your brother? Is there something wrong with him?" _duh,_ I thought. Instead of saying anything, I flipped out. I got out of my seat, walked to him and said, "It's a best brother one minute and annoying d-head the next sort of thing."I glared at him. He looked like he peed himself. Quietly, so no one else could hear, I added, "If you say one single, solitary word implying_ anything_ about my brother, I will rip out your heart. Are we understood?" He nodded, looking even more scared.

The Mole coughed. "What about you, Shiemi?"

After cram school ended for the day, I went to make amends with Rin. It wasn't his fault. He didn't know my brother was a touchy subject. I told Shiemi that I'd take a rain check on hanging out.

I knocked on the door. Yukio answered. "Mo-Okumura-Sensei, hello. Is Okumura-kun home? I'd like to apologize for class."

"Why, of course," he replied and called out, "Nii-san! Leigh-san is here! She wants to talk to you." Nii-san? They were brothers? And Rin was older? Wow. They were probably twins.

Soon, Rin came down. "Hello, Leigh." He was definitely better looking out of uniform.

"Listen, Rin. Can we talk in private?" Seeing my sincere look, he agreed and took me to the dining room. Once there, I started. "Okay, Rin. About earlier; see, my brother is a touchy subject, because up until a few years ago, we used to be really close."

"It's cool. You may make Suguro look like a wuss, but still, you still seem like a good friend. So what happened with you and your brother? You can trust me."

I stiffened at that. "Sorry, but I haven't really been able to trust someone for a while now. And besides, it's nothing personal, but the people in my head just don't like you too much." Crap. I mentioned that I had people in my head.

"People?" he asked, perplexed.

"Just kidding! I may be psychopathic, but I'm not crazy." He nodded, obviously weirded out by the fact that Americans made jokes out of insanity. "But seriously, I have issues in the trust department." I decided to change the subject. "So is the Mole really your younger brother?"

He laughed at my nickname for him "The Mole? I have to write that down. Actually, he's my younger twin."

I pulled a Muki. "Does he always act like he has a stick where the sun don't shine?"

He laughed again. "So that was you who said that the other day! Yes, he is always like that."

"He seems a little young to be an Exorcist. How long has he been training?" He winced. "Sorry, if that's a touchy subject we can file it away with my brother in a drawer labeled 'do not discuss.'"

He was back to normal. "It's fine. It's just that he received his Temptaint at birth, while I received mine a couple months ago. He's been training since he was 7. He became an exorcist at age 13."

"I know how he feels. Being able to see demons your whole life, I mean. I received mine at birth, too, only no one believed me when I said I saw monsters. I never talked about them in church. But the weird thing is, the goblins, the coal tars, the really low-power ones, rarely, if ever, came within 5 feet of me. I thought that it was just a Catholic thing at first, because the coal tars didn't like my family. Now I know it's because they have clean spirits."

We kept talking for a while. I would talk about my friends; he would talk about growing up in a monastery. It was a really pleasant talk, even with Michael urging me to make a sword and stab him. Finally, it was getting late so we wrapped things up. "By the way, Rin, never breathe a word of what I said today. It was a private discussion, and again, I'm sorry for flipping out on you earlier."

When I got back to the dorm, I knew there was going to be an onslaught of questions why I didn't hang out with them. But I didn't care, because I now knew that I had a friend I could talk to freely, even if he was a demon. It was like the old days, when I could talk to my brother, because most girls would tell everyone they saw, while guys could keep quiet. In a lot of ways, he did remind me of my brother: intimidating but a really nice guy. I just hoped he didn't start drinking, because that would be worse than the first time. In a lot of ways, guys could make better friends than girls.

Please Review!


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Blue Exorcist, this plot, or any of the OC's other than Charles and Leigh. I don't own Michael or Raphael. They're angels. They belong only to God.**

A couple of days after my friendly chat with Rin, Muki decided to add Spyro to our little crazy circle of friends. She introduced him to us, even though we all knew who he was. "Hey everybody! This is Spyro! He's really nice once you get to know him!" Dear God, did she ever say a sentence where she didn't add an exclamation point at the end?

Being the 'sarcastic cynic' I was, (Michelle's words, not mine) I said, "How do you know him so well, when you met him the other day?" Again, I didn't bother to take out my earbuds.

Great. She was going to introduce me _again_. Why did I even bother opening my mouth? "Oh. I almost forgot. This is Leigh Schmal." Manners first, anger issues later. I nodded and gave a small wave. "Hotaru Kagami," She pointed to the tomboy looking for her crush.

The said girl spoke up. "Have you guys seen Hirotaka? He was supposed to meet me here for lunch." She gave the disappointed sigh given by girls who have just been stood up. "Maybe he's with Rin and them?"

"I can see Rin right now and he's not with them!" She runs to the group with my new friend, and almost runs into an old friend of mine. She was in Photography Club in my cyber school, and she was one of the few people who believed me about the demons, she even saw them, too. Her name was Serena. But she was different. She used to be perky, and now she was like me. She got red streaks, too. She was also carrying a katana. She was training to be an exorcist, too? "Sorry, I somehow always run into people!" Serena glares at her.

"Serena Hayatashi. Try looking where you're going." Muki ignores the ice in her voice. Before this came to a fight, I stepped in.

"When did you come back?" I ask, signaling Muki to back off.

"Before school began."

"You dyed your hair," we said at the same time.

I kept talking. "I thought you didn't want to go back to Japan." Oops. Sensitive subject. She walks away. "That's odd; she's usually like you, Muki."

Muki was confused. "What does that mean?"

"Sweet, caring, and goofy." She looked like she was going to hug me. Oh, no. I did not do touchy-feely.

Spyro, thankfully, saved me. "Come on, Muki-ya. I have a tomato you might want." She snatched it and dug in, not caring about the juices on her face.

"Hey guys." Rin walked up to us. "Why is she eating a tomato?"

Muki pulls a Sméagol. "My precious!" She hissed, and Rin stepped back.

A new boy with black clothes, pointed teeth, and green eyes held out what was quite possibly the most disgusting thing I have ever seen in my life. "Muki, I got you tat plushie you wanted when I went to town." Then he looks at something. "Dude! That's the coolest dagger! Where did you get it?" I didn't answer. What was I supposed to say, I used my sweet angel powers to make it? Not likely. Besides, he was ranting about "girls can fight." _You have no idea, boy,_ I wanted to say. Muki wraps her arm around Spyro's, who was also eating a tomato. Shiemi starts at them, and Muki joined in. wow. Couple of nut jobs, right there. But then again, what was the fun in sanity?

I stopped them. "Muki, why don't you say thank you to," I turned to him. "What the heck is your name anyways?"

"Raan Umieto, at your service." He gives a quick bow. "She seems pretty nice to me, Fuji." Yay! Another crazy person!

Hotaru seems dumbstruck. "Are you okay, Raan?" He snaps out of it.

"Do you girls want t o go to town?" he asks. We all nodded.

"Rin! Get over here!" Yells the Mole. The boy was just like Michelle: goody-two-shoes who doesn't know the meaning of the word 'relax'.

Spyro breaks contact with his fruit. "Do you want a tomato?"

School was over, and we waited for Rin's group to come. I started listening to my iPod, because Motion City Soundtrack was on. Everybody was dressed down, even me. I busted out the camo pants, Phillies ball cap, which I tucked my ponytail under, (it was just easier to manage my hair that way) a plain black t-shirt, and my sneakers. I may have passed for a boy, by the way I dressed, but this was what I liked to wear back home. All was fine until…

"Hey everyone!" Raan pops up behind Hotaru, who on a reflex slams her textbook on his nose, breaking it. I'll fix it later. I zoned again.

"_It's like a bad dream/something from the back/of a magazine/black and white/and cheaply put together/like a slasher film/I'm torn in opposite directions/ the plot sucks, but the killings are gorgeous." _I sang along quietly, loving the song, until my cell phone rang. Blocked ID. "Hello," I said in English, hoping it was a friend from America

"Hey there kiddo," It was Charles.

"What is it?"

"I just wanted to talk."

"Yeah, well talk later. I'm spending time with friends now."

"So you have time for them, but not for me?"

"Payback's a b*tch, isn't it?" I hung up. I heard "I like cats," so I just muttered, "That wasn't random." At the same time as Hotaru.

We were at the fried dough place, where Spyro exclaims that "It's awesome!" I would kill for venison, or even a lousy pierogi. I wanted my local food. I listened to Brand New as I ate, and during the middle of 'Seventy Times Seven', my favorite song by them, my battery died. Crap. "Hirotaka got turned into a tomato," Hotaru said.

"This tomato is Hirotaka?" I picked it up. "I highly doubt that."

Muki runs in. "I found a box of tomatoes! Do you think there's a tomato box fairy in here?" She runs toward us while I protect Hirotaka. Muki trips over air, and the tomatoes fly everywhere, one even landing on my head. Hirotaka gets lost in the mess. We look for him until Rin finds him. Amber bursts into flames, somehow turning Ni-chan back into a human. Suddenly, we start laughing. "Why don't we go somewhere else? There's a new store on Main Street." Silently, she adds, "Leigh, I-"

"Don't. My pants are ruined, my iPod's dead, my had is now purple, and I just got a call from Charles. Just stay quiet."

"Charles?" she asked. I ignored her

Someone said, "Oh, no. This can't be good."


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Blue Exorcist, this plot, or any of the OC's other than Leigh. I don't own Michael or Raphael. They're angels. They belong only to God.**

"Oh no. this can't be good." Hotaru says, helping Hirotaka up. Muki runs out the door but crashes into the Mole.

"Not again." She mumbles, looking up at him from the floor, "Why am I always running into people?"

"Sorry guys, but there's an elementary school near the countryside that has a demon problem." The Mole says and everyone groans, "Lots of the kids are getting attacked."

"Come on! Who would want the kids to get hurt?" Muki runs out the door again, without running into anyone. That rarely ever happened.

_She was just complaining earlier and now she's ok? That is one weird girl._

We cleaned up ourselves and received our teams. I was working with Spyro on the second floor. Of course I get the heights. We started. We started walking around the halls when Spyro obviously had enough of the silence. "Leigh?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"I know you've probably gotten enough questions from Muki, but this has been bothering me since I met you."

"Shoot."

"Do all Americans have eyes like yours?" Seeing my confused look, he said, "I mean, your eyes switch between gray and blue a lot, and just a little bit after Raan broke his nose, your phone rang, and after you answered it, they turned black."

"Oh. No, not all Americans have eyes that change color. I have a friend whose eyes change between gray and green, and I know a lot of people whose eyes change colors, but it's just that my eyes have several layers of pigment to them, so depending on the lighting or my mood, they change color. For example, if I get angry or upset, they turn gray, and if I get really mad, they turn black. In other words, my eyes serve as an early-warning system."

"So why are you so bummed about being assigned to the second floor? You seemed pretty mad about it."

"I'm from a small town in Pennsylvania. There were two kinds of people: hunters and people too young or old to hunt. Kids get their licenses at age 12. I live a quarter mile into the woods. When I got mad, I could just take a walk into them. It doesn't matter how far away they are, I know woods like the back of my hand."

"So you're not mad about getting teamed up with me?"

"The only people I could get mad about being teamed up with are Imi, Nami, and maybe Shima because he's a perv." Suddenly, I sensed something. The demon was only intermediate. "This way," I said leading him to where it was. It looked just like one of the aliens on Delta Vega from the 2009 _Star Trek_ movie. Yes, I am a Trekker and proud of it. "Spyro, watch the door and make sure there are no other demons." He looked like he was going to complain, but seeing my daggers and determined expression, he did as I said.

**Angel scum,** it snarled. **To think you can defeat me merely because of your place in Heaven.**

I scowled at it. "Demon filth, you destroy everything good and innocent around you. And now, it ends." I jumped on its back, and slit its throat. Let it suffer.

Just as it was dying it said, **too late, my master has probably already had his fun with your green-haired friend. Just as I am dying in a puddle of my own blood she is lying in her own. But you can't find her. She is too deep in the forest. You might still save her, though.** With that, it died.

"Spyro," I said, "contact the Mole telling him I got the demon." Seeing his confused look, I said "Okumura-sensei." He nodded.

I ran into the woods. I looked up. Some of the limbs showed slight signs of wear made by a human, and they headed in a general direction. I ran until I found her. Muki had lightning slightly crackling through her hair, and the demon was right. She lost a lot of blood, but I could help her. I found that my blood made wounds heal faster, and things didn't look good for her. I took my knife and slashed my right wrist, letting my white blood land on the skin of her forehead. She probably was slammed into a tree. The wound closed almost immediately, but it would take a few minutes for the blood to be replenished. I hid the blood under the leaves, and climbed up the tree to snap a limb, still landing perfectly. _I will not use my wings, _I said, _I will not._ Letting my wings come out of my back meant sending up a light. That would be a blown cover. I called all of the other students and teachers, telling them that she fell off the branch, knocking her unconscious. A little while after everyone came, Rin said, "Well, that was fun."

"Stop being such an idiot, Rin." I said, and punched him what I think was lightly in the arm.

"Ow, Leigh, did you have to hit me?"

"It's called sisterly love."

At that, he smiled. Finally, after everyone talking over her, Muki came to; completely unaware of how close she was to dying just 20 minutes ago. The first thing she saw was Raan in a dress. Unfortunately, I wasn't the one who dared him. She giggled. Finally, the Mole said, "We have to get back to the academy. It's almost summer break." Yukio gets up and walks away from the group. "The bus is going to leave and you might get stuck here for the night." We sprint toward the bus, shoving a surprised looking Mole out of the way.

_You know what, Charles, _I thought, _maybe I will talk to you later. When you're an exorcist, who knows when a demon will get you?"_

**Please Review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Sorry I couldn't update yesterday, it was the opening night for my musical. I usually like to have these up the day of or the day after the new chapter, but opening weekend (Follow that Rabbit) and spending time with my big brother (yes, Charles is a real person and I love him very much, but not ing the incest way) got in the way of my writing. Again, I only own Leigh, owners of the OCs, you know who you are, I don't own Blue Exorcist, and I definitely don't own Michael or Raphael. They belong only to God.**

The ride to the academy was long, so I humored Muki's game of "50 Questions", (20 was too few for her) as long as she didn't bring up why I came to True Cross. "What's your brother's name?"

"Charles." I replied.

"Does he look like you?"

"Imagine me with blond hair, as a guy, 6 feet tall, with lighter blue eyes."

"Wow."

The game continued for another 15 minutes, when I had enough of Muki asking what everything looked like. I took out my cell phone and let her cruise through it, until…

I thought I didn't download that picture. I will kill Charles. It was me, with blond hair, a too-big Phillies ball cap, a Spider Man tie-dye t-shirt, a pair of jean short shorts, with sky blue eyes and missing my two front teeth, at age 6 holding a James T. Kirk teddy bear, with a 14-year old boy with curly blond hair, the same eyes, and the I'm-picking-on-you look, but his eyes held a lot of love. He was picking me up on his shoulders, standing by a fountain, probably threatening to tip me in. That boy was Charles. It was taken when I looked more up to my sister and called my brother "a big, fat, bully." What I wouldn't give to just see him, to hug him, to take a ride in his car with him. Before I could snatch the offending cell phone away, she grabbed it and started laughing her head off. "Is that you on the hot guy's shoulders?"

"First, please don't talk about my brother that way; it's really creepy, and second, yes." I shuddered at the thought of someone calling Charles 'hot'.

"Is that a teddy bear?" she looked like she couldn't breathe.

I got defensive. "It is a _James Tiberius Kirk Collector's Item._ It's not a 'teddy bear'."

She flipped through some pictures of my 15th and 16th birthday parties, and my 'going away' party. She cried when she saw the pictures of me hugging Charles, and the hugs with my individual friends and the group picture. "Wow," she sighed, "I thought you left friends when you left for Japan, but I thought they would be Gothic and scary; they just look goofy, and I never thought you had that many."

"Well, that's enough for now." I said as I snatched the cell phone back, trying to hide the tears welling up in my own eyes, and the sad smile I had.

XXXXX

After a while talking with Rin, I decided to walk around and give myself a rest from Michael going: _Demon, son of Satan, inheritor of the blue flames, Prince of Gehenna. Destroy him!_ With me responding I honestly couldn't care less that he is the son of Satan, that doesn't change the fact that he's human and like a brother to me. I saw Raan walking around when he stopped and rubbed his neck, probably remembering the beating I gave him when I held him by the collar and threatened him. He could have gotten Muki killed. If I didn't have my powers, right now, we'd be mourning her. He left his partner and split up. It was ridiculous and irresponsible. If I used a fraction of my true strength, I could have snapped his neck like a twig. He was terrified, and said, 'I'm an idiot and next time I will watch Muki more carefully.' I let him off easy and growled, 'you'd better.' And let him down.

Suddenly, the grape colored kitty came along, he said something to it, and it disappeared again. The first time he talked to 'Fuji,' I sensed something there, but couldn't see it. After that, I was able to see her easier and easier.

He suddenly turned around to see a girl with a familiar singing. I really liked her voice. It reminded me of Michelle's. She is the only soprano in my family; I was an alto, but that meant I could sing rock music easier, and my brother really liked that about me, he could only sing well to acoustic music. I looked again, to see Raan hanging from a tree. I almost laughed. Almost.

I walked up to him. "What are you doing?" I glared up at him. "Playing hide-and-seek with your imaginary friend?" I knew full well, though, that his "imaginary friend" was real.

"Fuji's not imaginary! She's real!" _I know, idiot. _He tried to get out of the tree, but lands flat on his face.

"Sure she is," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm as I rolled my eyes. "We got another mission." I told him before walking away.

XXXXX

We stood at the mouth of a cave, where I was definitely in my element. I've been in too many caves to bother counting.

Rin looked scared. "I'm going to-ack!" he grunted as the Mole held him back.

The Mole glared at his brother. "You're not going anywhere." He looked at the rest of us. "Do you know your groups?" I nodded. I was with Suguro, Rin, and Spyro. They were probably the closest guy friends I got since I came to Japan. Suguro was actually impressed that I did well in my regular classes on top of my cram school classes, the only problem being that I could only memorize Jewish and Christian texts. It isn't very hard to become an exorcist with two archangels in your head.

We started in. "How should we do this?" Spyro asked.

I took charge immediately. I knew what this meant. Their safety was in my hands. They trusted me to keep them safe. "Keep a tight formation. Me and Rin are in the front." Seeing their confused looks, I added, "We're the best fighters, since you don't know what the demon is, and therefore, its fatal verse, and you can't draw in this light. Besides, blue-eyed people see better in the dark than brown-eyed people."

We looked for anything suspicious when I heard Shiemi scream. I started towards that direction, when I turned around. Rin and Spyro were gone; the only thing showing they were there was Kurikara, wrapped in red, and Spyro's pen and notepad. They were defenseless. I dropped to my knees in shock. _This is what happens when you hesitate to use the power bestowed upon you by the Creator._ Suguro said, "Did anyone else hear that scream?" and turned around to see me.

"I tried to save them. They trusted me. They _trusted _me." I whispered, barely audible.

He awkwardly pats me on the back, a gesture, which under any other circumstances, would be appreciated. Maybe he really cared for me the way I cared for him. "We can't save everyone." He said, but his comfort fell on deaf ears.

"They trusted me and I failed them! A mere shadow lost to a mere shadow." I said. Hopefully he didn't understand that I was the shadow of the angels. _You know what you have to do. _Michael said. Yes, I replied, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. I shoved Suguro away and ran, hoping that he didn't see my eyes glowing white from the power I was about to use.

XXXXX

**Please Review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I can't tell for myself, but my writing might get a little more angsty, at least for a while. My dog was put down last week, and I had him for almost 9 years, so losing him has been really hard on me. I'm sorry if my writing gets depressing. Again, I don't own anything.**

I was running through the cave, eyes glowing white, and wings at the ready to erupt from my back. No one took my friends and got away with it alive. _No one._ I thought of Spyro's light-colored hair, and the way he looked after Muki like he was looking after a sister who was just a bit younger than him, but still didn't want to see her hurt. I thought of Rin. Rin, with trusting, expressive eyes. I didn't have eyes as pure blue, or as light as his for a long time.

Grief at seeing demons everywhere I turned for 16 years took its toll on me. Anger at my brother for becoming something I knew he wasn't, and at myself for not being able to save him. Sorrow for all of the humans that were killed by demons in the woods that I couldn't kill before they did damage. Regret that I almost killed my brother, and that I had to discover my powers on him. They all took a toll on me and my eyes. No matter how happy I was, I always had that tinge of gray and the darkness in my eyes, which made them look empty. I wasn't going to let that happen to Rin.

I took the gold crucifix around my neck and sliced the skin on my collarbone. "_Raziel, Angel of Mystery, come-" _I stopped myself halfway through the invocation, and the skin already healed. I wasn't going to need help from angels. I, Leigh Nicole Smith (**A/N: Leigh uses her mother's maiden name, Schmal, even though her parents are still together**) would defeat these demons myself. I thought of my late grandfather, Gerald Schmal. He was an active-duty member of the army during World War 2. He fought at the Battle of the Bulge. He didn't need angels to help him when fighting one of the harshest battles during the War. I was only going against a few demons. I could handle this myself. I let go of my grandmother's crucifix in favor of a knife, the black metal catching and reflecting the pure white glow of my eyes.

Suddenly, I saw Muki. I ran to her, but I stopped when she turned around. I gasped. She didn't have a face. "Don't worry, precious tool of Michael," it said, "I'll kill you quickly." I had no other choice. She was lunging at me, and that wasn't Muki. I took a dagger off my belt and slashed her throat, and kept running. Nine chances out of ten, it didn't kill her.

And then, I heard footsteps. I turned around, eyes closed, so they wouldn't glow. _Go back to blue. Go back to blue._ Finally, I got the sensation behind my eyes that meant they changed color. I opened them. "Ryuji, what do you want?"

He closed the distance between us, and looked at me, but not directly into my eyes. People rarely ever looked into my eyes, not even my family. They were so dark, and some people feared them. In a way, I was proud of that. After all, how many teenage girls could scare a football player with a glare? "How could you hear me? I was a good 30 feet away."

I rolled my eyes, and gave him a bland smile. "I hear _everything._ I can even hear your thoughts right now." He looked terrified, until I said, "Just kidding. Stuff echoes in this cave. If you train your ears to hear it, you could probably hear stuff even farther away than you were. By the way, you're going to be completely helpless without a gun. Do you have one?" He nodded. "Good."

We walked along in silence until I heard a bat's screech echo through the cave. Suguro, without hesitation, shot three rounds into the direction the sound was coming from. Not surprisingly, they landed in a wall. "Hey, Ensign Suguro, set phasers to stun, will ya?" He looked at me like I was crazier than usual. I mumbled to myself, "Right, you don't know what _Star Trek _is, do you?" Then, I said more loudly, "Put the safety on. You probably just attracted some demons with that idiot move." He nodded and did as I said. "Get behind me, and don't get out of earshot. Do you have a flashlight?" He nodded again. "Give it to me. I'll be able to see the most with the limited light." Again, he did as I said.

We walked for a while, and when it was evident that there were no demons, Ryuji spoke up. "So, do you have a boyfriend back in America?"

That question caught me completely off-guard. I decided to bug him by calling him by his nickname. "Bon, this is hardly the time _or_ place to discuss my love life, or lack thereof, back in Pennsylvania."

"So you have a boyfriend?" his face almost fell.

"I don't. Guys back home have all the sex appeal of a penguin." I said, remembering a quote from "City of Fallen Angels".

"Well, since you don't, would you like to hang out with Shima, Neko, Rin, Raan, and I sometime?"

"Sure, why not. I mean, I already talk with Rin a lot, so much that he seems like a kid brother to me, and I hang out with Raan, when I'm with Muki and them, even though he could have gotten Muki killed the other day. But if Shima's going to be there, I am _not_ wearing a tight shirt." He laughed. "We should probably meet up at the end of this corridor, where the path splits in two."

We headed there, and a couple of minutes later, Raan ran at us, gasping for breath. He looked at me strangely, before I realized that I got some of Shadow-Muki's blood on my face, and then looked behind us, asking if there was anyone else. I got that specific sense of human and demon mingling that I usually associated with Hirotaka, before he popped out. I grabbed a knife.

"There's me." I pulled another knife out, remembering Shadow-Muki. "Yukio taught you well, I suppose." Raan almost put his weapon back, but I stopped him.

Glaring at him, I said, "Tell us one thing only Hirotaka would know." I twirled my left dagger to show him what would happen if he couldn't.

"Muki has a stuffed bunny hidden in her dorm room." Okay, I knew that, but there's more than one.

"Something we all would know?" I rolled my eyes.

"Fine. Raan has a Card Captain Sakura outfit in his closet." We all sweatdrop.

Raan said something, but I didn't pay attention because a girl walks out from the shadows. I made another knife. My angel sense was going nuts. _Give in,_ Michael urged. _What kind of angel doesn't show their wings?_ While I was busy telling Michael how incredibly_ stupid _it would be to expose my power, Hirotaka already dealt with the problem. I stopped when Raan said, "Stop pecking my brain!"

No matter what the situation was, the urge was there. Sarcastic remark. Ready. Aim. Fire! "What brain?" I took charge again. "We need a code word so mistakes don't happen."

"Any ideas?"

I smiled blandly. "Tribbles hate Klingons." No one got it. "You don't know what _Star Trek _is?" they shook their heads. "Oh, you deprived children. I'll have to fix that sometime."

I turned around and walked away. Did I ever say that when my angel sense goes crazy for a significant amount of time, I get a splitting headache? You have no idea how much I wanted to let the wings loose and vaporize any demon within seven feet of me. Suddenly, I saw a mirror. Inside was Shiemi. She kept yelling something, but I couldn't hear her. I moved on. I saw Muki, the real one inside another one. She looked like she did the day she was slammed into a tree, with lightning crackling in her hair. "Uh, guys, Muki's over here, and she's _pissed._" It was true. She was pounding on the wall of the mirror. Michael? I said. Any advice? _Yes. Some of your blood on the blade of a new dagger chould break the prison. _I nodded about to do just that, until I turned around. "Oh, crap."

**That's it for this chapter. Please review! Flames accepted!**


	9. Failure by Design

**A/N: This is a filler. You don't need to read it if you don't want to, but it introduces Charles. Is his job really what Leigh thinks it is? Does he know about Exorcists? Read and find out! Takes place after he calls Leigh in Chapter 5**

Charles POV

I sighed as I clicked the disconnect button on my iPhone. I held the recently developed device that could translate words to one's native language as one hears it, and translates the words to another person's native language as they left your mouth. I wanted to tell her that I could be transferred to the Japan branch of my Exorcist weapon manufacturing company, but she's still pretty touchy about my…erm, bad habit, and the fact that I always blow her of for my friends. The cover for my company was a developer of medical equipment. Everyone thought I was working on a self-cleaning feeding tube, when I was really working on which dimensions of knives cause better balance, and which bullets kill demons faster.

I missed her so much. There's nothing to do back home without her to go shoot with, play guitar with, play catch with, or even listen to music with. I even missed the rock tone to her voice that came out when she would sing Bayside or Brand New. I would call her again later. "Hey, Boss!" I yelled to one of my managers.

She came over to my computer. "Yes. What is it, Mr. Smith?"

"I'd like to ask permission to transfer to Japan."

"Why?"

"My sister goes to school at True Cross Academy. She's a first-year there. Her name is Leigh Nicole Smith, but she uses the surname Schmal."

She looked at the tablet she always carried muttering under her breath. "Schmal-Smith." Then louder, she said, "Here we are. Yes, you're right. She attends the advanced classes with Middle First Class exorcist Yukio Okumura, attends the cram school, where she is a top student, is aiming for the Meister of Knight, and is currently an ExWire."

I couldn't believe it. Attending cram school? She could get hurt! "Sh-she's in the cram school? Are you sure?"

She turned the tablet to face me. Her wavy brown hair was now black with blood-red streaks, but it was definitely Leigh. "Is this your kid sister?" I nodded. "Well, if you want to transfer there to be closer to her, I'll get the paperwork. When you're an exorcist, you need someone to remind you that you have something to live for, especially if you're a Knight." With that, she left. I mentally groaned. Why did she have to go for Knight? She could have been a fair enough Aria, a pretty good Dragoon, or an excellent Doctor with that blood of hers. Then I remembered. Two years ago, that knife that came out of nowhere. She always read books where the hero carried a knife or sword; she always took her fights head-on. I suppose Knight fit her, even though they have the highest fatality rate. I knew I should go to Japan. I was the only person she could talk to about her…gifts.

I worked for another couple of hours, playing out all of her different reactions in my head. I wouldn't tell her for another week or two, so I could have a definite answer.

I simply looked forward to the day I could see my little sister again. Even if she could beat me up now.


	10. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own Blue Exorcist. I don't own any of the angels mentioned in this story. I don't own the idea of how Raziel looks, Cassandra Clare does. I stole that part from **_**City of Glass, **_**which if you have the time, the Mortal Instruments series is an amazing read. On with the chapter!**

The black shadow twisted, pulling itself together, and a body started to form. _Leigh, _Raphael said, _I'm usually not the one urging you to do this kind of thing, but you have to use your abilities NOW. _Michael added, _Your friends won't live otherwise._ They continued to urge me on. I closed my eyes and covered my ears, though I already know that it wouldn't do any good. I found the strength to look up. Everyone in the mirrors were screaming, falling to their knees. "What are you doing to them?" I pulled my knife, eyes starting to glow. Now was not the time to screw with me.

"Why lovely little angel," it replied, "I'm only showing them the past."

I couldn't hold it in anymore. The wings erupted from my back; a pure white light filled the cavern. The red n my hair faded, and turned darker, if possible. My skin paled, and I was wearing a black Roman-style dress. I started whispering in Latin, "Saint Michael, the archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil…" the black knife turned into a gold sword.

The demon covered his ears and said, "You dare say that prayer at me? That disgusting Michael cast me out of Heaven and into Hell himself. Anyone who wants protection from _him_ has made themselves my enemy."

"Really?" I asked. I buried the sword to the hilt inside him.

He merely swatted me aside. "That tickles." He pulled the sword out, now stained black with its blood. "You know, little girl, that hurt. But, I haven't had this much fun in years."

I start muttering, "Raziel, Angel of Mystery, come to my aid." I cut my wrist, ignoring the mild sting. The white blood forms a circle around me. He appears, wearing a white loincloth. He has tan skin, blond hair, and golden, alive, glowing runes of the language of heaven. In each of the feathers of his wings, there was a golden eye. I pointed at the demon. He nodded, and created a golden bolt of energy. It tears through the demon, but it retaliates. Pulling a knife from its neck, he stabs me in the abdomen. The pain was awful. Just as I drifted, I heard it say, "Nighty-night, angel" with disgust.

XXXXX

I opened my eyes. Angels were coming towards me muttering in their strange language which I somehow understood. They were saying things like, "Is that her? Michael's lieutenant?", "She's awfully young, don't you think?", and "Yes, but she's very pretty for a human." I didn't understand where that last comment came in. I saw six-winged seraphim, four-winged, four-headed cherubim, toddleresque putti, and others. Was this heaven? "Am I dead?" I asked to no angel in particular.

I looked at my side, where Raphael was kneeling by me, shaking his head. "You're not dead. However, you _did_ puncture a lung, chip two ribs, and get stabbed in the spinal cord. Were you human, you would be dead. But you're not human, so you'll be up very soon. You were brought here to be told something, since you never listen otherwise." He looked at Michael, who was pacing at my other side.

He stopped and nodded. "Why you have your powers." he paused briefly. "You're aware of your Catholic lineage. Correct?" I nodded. On both side of my family apparently I had umpteen generations of Catholics. "Your family was chosen because of that lineage, also because of the devotion of your father and late grandfather." I nodded again. My grandfather was a Grand Knight in the Knights of Columbus. You, your brother, and your sister all had potential. However, we knew what would happen with Charles, and Michelle was far too weak. You were different, however. You had a bright future, and you were strong. I saw how determined you were a few weeks before you received your first gift." I almost stopped breathing at that memory. "Since then, you have been given many gifts, all for one purpose. So you could be my lieutenant, who carried out my work. You will have to experience quite a journey before you before you are strong enough, however. Raphael," he turned to the angel tending my injuries. "Is she well enough?" Raphael nodded. Michael turned to look at me again. "That journey starts now, Leigh."

XXXXX

I regained consciousness. The demon was heading for Ryuji, who was drawing the demon away from me. It was sweet. I was still in angel form, but Raziel was gone. All fear of ding gone, I stood up and yelled, "Hey ugly! Yeah, you! You missed!" the demon's and Ryuji's faces were the pictures of shock.

The demon walked toward me. "Have you had enough yet?"

I glowed stronger in response, creating another golden sword. "Are you kidding me? I'm just getting warmed up." I flew around the demon, something I didn't really feel comfortable doing. Yeah, laugh it up. The angel is afraid of heights. I took a new approach: exsanguinations. Flying in circles around it, each time I got close enough, I slashed its abdomen or throat. With each slash, I became more bloodied. Before long, I myself resembled a demon. It could barely stand, but obviously, I couldn't be the one who killed it. Ni-chan rushed in, and took over the fight. I returned to Ryuji.

"L-Leigh," he sputtered.

I returned to be human. "You bet your ass." I grinned, and ignored the wave of fatigue that washed over me, which always accompanied turning back to human.

"What the hell was that?"

"That was something you never saw. Do you understand?" He nodded. By now Hirotaka was fighting the demon in darkness. "We have to watch them, so that if Hirotaka loses the upper hand, we can step in."

He nodded, holding a pistol in one hand and prayer beads in the other. I grabbed a knife, and took a rosary out of my hoodie pocket, and removed the article of clothing, showing the tank top I had on underneath. He flushed when he saw me in something that showed off my body shape. He just pulled a Shima and stared. "Uh, dude." I flicked the back of his head. "Eyes up here." I heard mirrors shattering, and people escaping them. "Ryuji," he turned to face me again. "We have to watch them, too." He nodded. I tie the jacket around my waist whenever Ni-chan returns, grabbing Hotaru's hand, leading us out two by two. I was paired up with Ryuji.

Once we got out, Ryuji showed his relief at seeing me alive after taking that hit in the stomach. "Thank Buddha you're alright." Then, he hugged me. After a second of pure shock, I hugged him back. Maybe he did care… He turned to talk with Rin.

My phone rang.

_You're not eighteen anymore _

_Five years should have been enough time_

_For you to grow up and get over it—_

Masterpiece by Bayside. Charles' ringtone. "Charles," I answered in English, relief evident in my voice. "You have no idea how glad I am to hear from you."

"Hey, Nick." I smiled at his name for me. It was his way of making fun of my tomboyish habits like hating dresses, getting in fights with some of the football players, which I always won (I kinda have a rep back home), wearing baggy clothes, and even taking my brother's basketball shorts (hey, he had, like, 20 pairs, and they're comfortable). "I have news." He paused for dramatic effect. "I'm getting transferred to the Japan Branch of my company. I even have the latest in translation technology."

I was about to drop the phone. He was coming here? This was great! "Are you shitting me? Because if you are, I'm going to take the stick shoved up Michelle's ass and put it up yours."

"Would I lie to you about something like this? Wait, don't answer that. But my plane's taking off right now, and I should be there by midnight tonight. He told me the gate that he would be at. "Can you and a couple of your friends pick me up?"

"Yeah, sure."

"See ya, Nick."

"Bye, Chuck." He hung up, and I walked over to Muki. "What are you doing at midnight tonight?"

She looked at me weird, because I was still blood-spattered, and said, "Nothing…" obviously confused at why I would ask her that.

"Good. Do you want to help me pick up Charles tonight? He's getting transferred here."

"Your brother Charles? Talk-about-him-and-die Charles?" I nodded. "Sure. Why not? I want to learn more about America anyways." I gave her a death glare. She shrunk back. "Or I could watch the touching reunion between brother and sister."

"Great! Now that you're on board, I'll ask Rin." I walked over to him. "What are you doing at midnight tonight?"

"Nothing important. Just sleeping. Why?"

"Can you help me pick up my brother at the airport? He's getting transferred here."

His eyes widened. "I thought your brother was a touchy subject. As in you almost killed me for talking about him!"

I waved a hand. "I'm over that. Besides, you can see a clone of me if I was two inches taller, had blond hair, lighter eyes, eight years older."

"Okay, I'm in. I want to see just how close you two were."

We walked over to Muki. "Okay, I'm going to regret this, but it's open season on brother questions."

Muki, of course, started. "Just how much sdo you two look alike? Do you have a picture of him when he was 16?"

I sighed and pulled out my phone and found a picture when he was 16. I showed it to them. They looked at the phone, then back at the phone, then back at me. "You weren't kidding." Rin said, completely freaked out by the resemblance. A boy with poofy blond curly hair, light blue eyes with a little gray. Besides that, we looked exactly alike. "That's just _freaky_." Muki agreed. Then thought of something. "Wait. There's something freakier." She snatched the phone and surfed out until she found 'the picture'. The one with a 6 year old me and a teddy bear. They started dying. Rin was gasping for air "Leigh had a teddy."

I once more got defensive. "_It is a James Tiberius Kirk collector's item._" I hit them both.

Rin recovered. "So, what's he like?"

I searched for the right words. "You know how there are some people who get along with everyone, but aren't fake? That's what he's like. It's like there's this light inside him and if you were lucky, he would share some of that light with you. Some people can hate him, but not many do. He's also one of those people who don't study but still do well on tests. He's not always patient, but he does make time for you. He's just an amazing guy."

"When's his birthday?"

"Christmas."

"And I thought that my birthday was close to Christmas. His is on the holiday."

We continued for a while about that. Talking freely about Charles felt so great. For that moment, life was almost perfect, even though I was away from my American friends.


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: here's the new chapter. I don't own Blue Exorcist, the plot, or anything besides Leigh, Charles, and Leigh's new sword.**

I sat at the hospital with the rest of the cram school students for a little bit before coming up with some lame excuse and went outside. "DAMMIT!" I yelled. I was about to punch the wall, but I thought better of it. _How pathetic and weak am I? I could have taken that thing out in, like, two seconds, if I didn't hold back!_

Ryuji was suddenly behind me. "Are you okay? You seemed pretty upset back there."

I turned around, shocked. I guess it was pretty good judgment not to punch the wall. A broken wall would raise a lot of questions, and I did not want that hanging over my head. "I'm fine. It's just that you, Rin, and Spyro all trusted me, and you guys aren't exactly the picture of health. Shouldn't you be back with the others? You took a pretty good beating."

He looked incredulous. "_I _took a beating? _You _were stabbed in the freaking stomach! How are you even alive? And how could you fight after that? And what about that freaky angel thing you did?"

I shrugged. "Well, you know, whatever doesn't kill me had better start hauling ass. And like I said, he missed. See?" I pulled up the tank top, where sure enough there wasn't even a scar to show what happened.

He laughed for a little, but then sobered. "What about that angel thing you did, though? Don't tell me I was hallucinating, because you were flying."

Thank God I had an answer for this. "You weren't. Ever hear of an angel sword?" he nodded, unsure of where this was going. "I have one. Watch." I took out my dagger and whispered in Latin, "St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil…" the dagger turned into the golden sword.

His face was priceless. "B-but, very, very few Knights can handle a demon sword, let alone an angel sword. What makes you so special?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. All I know is that this sword chose me."

"Oh. So, do you want to hang out tonight with all the guys?"

I sighed. "Sorry, but I can't. Right after we got out of that cave, my brother called me. He's coming to Japan, and I'm supposed to pick him up."

"So tomorrow after cram school?"

I smiled. "Yeah. I'd like that."

XXXXX

Muki and I were getting ready to pick Charles up at the airport. While I was showering to get the demon blood off of me, she kept asking questions that I only half heard. I was too busy getting the black goop out of my hair. Note to self: exasguination is not the cleanest way to kill a demon. After I finished in the shower, and putting on my clothes which consisted of ripped jeans and fitted bayside t-shirt (Muki commented, "about time you show some curves"), with my hair straightened, I was putting in my earrings (three in each ear), when she asked an incredibly inappropriate question: "Hey Leigh, does your brother have a girlfriend?"  
>I stabbed myself with the end of the earring "Ow. Dammit." I turned to face her. "I haven't seen my brother in months. Last I checked he has a girlfriend named Kendra. She's really nice, and he's pretty into her."<br>"Oh." Her face fell.  
>"Muki. Charles is twenty-four. He is not interested in someone eight years younger than him." I reprimanded.<br>"Should we make a sign or something? That's what people do in movies."  
>I shrugged. "Okay. But I have to make it because I can write in English well. At least for a leftie."<br>She clapped her hands "Oh, yay! This is going to be fun!" she pulled out a tablet of cardboard paper. Where did she get that from?  
>I looked at her strangely before taking it. I wrote on the front 'Charles Smith, Actuated Medical.' Seeing her face I said, "I have to write something official-looking so we can get in." I turned the paper over and wrote 'Chuck, look over here! Yeah, see the sister!' I sketched a quick shudderbird. Satisfied with the poster, I walked to under my bunk, and pulled out my guitar. Fooling around, I started playing 'Rum is for Drinking, not for Burning' by Senses Fail, and without even realizing it, I was singing. "Sail with me unto the setting sun. the battle has been won, but war has just begun" Before I knew it, Muki was staring at me. "What?" I asked.<br>"You actually sound good. What was that?"  
>"A song called Rum is for Drinking, not for Burning. My brother showed me this song. He's even better on the guitar. I'm more of a jack-of-all-trades with instruments. I play guitar, electric bass, piano, flute, saxophone, trumpet, and some violin. I have too much spare time."<br>"So he plays guitar?"  
>I nodded. "And sings. My family's really musical." I looked at the clock. "We have to get Rin."<br>"How do we get there again?"  
>"Just follow me. I go over there all the time. Where else do you think I go when I'm not with you?"<br>I think I just heard something I'd rather forget. It sounded an awful lot like "Ryuji's room." Okay, hold the phone. Did she think I was shacking up with Ryuji? Please. After I gave her a glare she said, "the library."

XXXXX  
>Rin, Muki, and I were at the gate. The plane would be emptying any second now. At the luggage pickup, I saw him. "Chuck!" I yelled. He obviously heard me because he picked up his luggage as fast as he could. It's been so long since I've seen him in person. He still had his ear piercing, but were his arms always so big? Were his abs always so toned looking? I tried to look through his white shirt. He came over.<br>"Nick!" he wrapped me in a hug. Rin and Muki looked at me showing a display of affection in public. Muki was looking at his arms and abs and gave a low whistle, obviously checking him out. "Long time no see, kiddo!" he said in Japanese. I saw the device in his ear. So _that_ was the latest in translation technology. "Who are they?" he nodded towards Muki and Rin.  
>"Oh, this is Muki," I pointed at her, "and Rin." I pointed at him.<br>Muki piped up. "Did you just call Leigh Nick?"  
>He gave me a look that said, "you didn't tell them?" which I responded to with a shake of my head. He replied, "Oh, you've noticed that my sis is kind of a tomboy, right? It's my way of making fun of her for that. You know, hating dresses, wearing baggy clothes, <em>stealing my basketball shorts<em>, even getting in fights with guys in the football team."  
>"Which I won." I interjected.<br>"Yeah. You were a public menace. Any football players would plead for mercy for making fun of band geeks. Guys who looked at her wrong… well, let's just say I don't think they'll be reproducing anytime soon" Rin made a face.  
>"So," Muki said, "Leigh says that you're a good guitarist and singer."<br>He made a 'so-so' gesture. "I'm okay, but I left my guitar back home." He looked at his phone. "I have to get to my new apartment. I'll talk to all of you guys later. But first, I was wondering. When I asked for a transfer, my boss said the strangest thing. Are you guys in cram school?" We stopped breathing.  
>I hit him. Hard. "We will talk about that somewhere else." I hissed.<br>I dragged them outside. Muki and Rin followed. "How do you know about us?" I asked.  
>He shrugged. "The medical manufacturer is only a cover. We're the Dragoon laboratory in America. So when I asked for a transfer after last time I called you, my manager looked you up. You could have told me that you were in the cram school, Nick. You could tell me anything."<br>I sighed. "Okay, tomorrow after work we'll come and explain everything else that happened to us since I enrolled."  
>He hugged me again and left for his new apartment. After that awkward moment, Muki spoke up. "Oh, my God. He is so hot. Even better than the pictures!" I slapped her in the back of her head for that. "Right. Age difference. Taken. Sorry, Leigh."<br>Rin looked at me. "You were in fights? A lot? Wow. I don't know why I'm even surprised."

I slap him in the back of the head, too. "You have zero, absolutely _zero_ room to talk about getting in fights, Rin."

"He's still hot," she muttered under her breath.

XXXXX

I was on my way to Charles' place to help him get settled in and get brother/sister time. I knocked on the apartment door. "It's open." I heard his muffled voice in English.

I walked in. "Hey, bro." I started carrying around his dresser.

He laughed a little. "Hey kiddo. Now I know what they mean by us being attached at the hip. I got some stuff for you from home and my workplace."

I put it down. "Really? Early birthday presents? I'm not 17 until September 6."

"Yeah. The birthday presents will have to wait, but consider these 'I'm sorry' gifts. For not believing you about the demons, for drinking, for choosing my friends over you." He took out a huge duffel bag. "Thankfully, exorcist weapons aren't seen by people without temptaints." He pushed it towards me. "Well? Open it."

I did just that. Inside were enough exorcist weapons to make him look like he just robbed the Dragoon Laboratory blind. I took out the first set of weapons. Four sets of throwing knives. "You've got a good arm and perfect aim with those things." I moved them aside to see two pistols. "You were a good shot, even though you don't like using them all that much, and I don't want you to get rusty." I moved those aside to see a dagger. "It has perfect balance, and it's inspired by your love of steampunk. Touch that button at the part where the blade meets the hilt." I pushed it. A tiny knife shot out the opposite direction. "Also, grip the handle really hard." I gripped it. Inside was a tiny canister. "You can put your blood in there to heal any injury." I dug to the bottom, where three items remained. I took out the first. It was a black sword, with red and blue patterns along the sheath. I unsheathed it. It was a perfect black color, with the prayer to St. Michael painted in Latin on each side (one side was written in red, the other in blue). On the hilt was a ruby and a sapphire joined together. That particular stone brought back memories.

_We were wandering around the woods and we saw a sapphire and ruby joined together as the same stone, about the size of a baby's fist. It was attached to a silver necklace. "That poor person lost her necklace." 8-year-old me said, looking down at it. I looked at it closer to see that it was the same stone._

_16-year-old Charles picked it up. "You know what that stone is? It's a stone that had two halves trapped on the edges of a cave wall, where it was exposed to different elements. Some elements turned that half blue, and some elements turned that half red. They're the same stone, they just look different. And after hundreds of years, they found each other, and stayed together. Just like us, Nick. We could be separated for a long time, but when you come down to it, we're the same at heart and we'll always find each other." _

_8-year-old me looked at it in wonder, picked it up, and hugged her brother. She grinned. "Do you mean that?" she looked ready to cry._

_He hugged her back. "You bet, Nick."_

"_I love you, big brudder!"_

"_I love you, too, kiddo."_

Tears gathered at the corner of my eyes at the memory. "'We could be separated for a long time, but we'd always find each other'. It's still true, even today."He nodded. I took out the other two items. They were…softball bats. "CHARLES!" I yelled.

He put his hands up. "Hey, how many hobgoblin nests did you take out with slowpitch softball bats?"

"I stopped counting at eight."

"See? Besides, you could spar with that boyfriend of yours."

"Rin's not my boyfriend. He's kind of like another brother."

He put everything back. "You have to get going. You have school tomorrow, and I have a new job."

"Bye, Chuck." I swung the bag on my shoulder. It wasn't very heavy, but it was bulky.

"Bye, Nick." I locked the door behind me.

XXXXX

I was walking back to my dorm, when I saw Serena lit up in red fire. I knew she was a demon, but what she was doing was nothing short of suicide. She was practically sending a flare up to the Vatican. She sheathed it just as the Naberius she was fighting disappeared. "What's going on here?" I asked.

**A/N: Please review! I only have like, five, and I want to know what people think of my story. I accept any questions for Leigh. **


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N: Well, here's the new chapter! Again, I only own Charles, Leigh, and Leigh's weapons.**

"What's going on here?" I asked as the flames on Serena vanished and the Naberius they were fighting died.

Serena was in shock. "It's not what you think…" she looked for the right words.

"Serena, do you have any idea what you just _did_? The Vatican probably has spies all over the place. They're so paranoid. You might as well have just yelled 'I'm a demon!' at them." She looked kind of scared. "Please. It's not like I'm going to tell anyone. I'm keeping my own secrets from them."

"Like what?" asked one of the other ExWires named Rayne who was new here.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm actually surprised that Serena didn't sense this sooner, but I have an angel sword." All three of their faces changed from shocked to 'you've got to be kidding me.' "I'm not joking. See?" I took out the dagger that I designated as the one I would turn into the sword and said the first two lines of the Prayer to St. Michael over it. Once more, it turned into a golden sword. After a little bit, I willed it to return to its normal black dagger form. "But I don't like using it all that much. I don't want to depend on the power of the sword."

Serena put up her typical 'Izumo impression' as I liked to call it. In other words, being a snobby, heinous, bitch. "Where were you coming from, anyway?"

"My brother's apartment. He just moved here and I was helping him get some of the furniture in place. Plus, he got me some sweet new weapons that he made himself. He works at the Dragoon Laboratory." I pointed at the duffel bag and the new sword on my hip.

"What kinds of weapons?" Megumi asked. I almost never heard her speak, so I was mildly surprised.

"Four sets of throwing knives, two pistols, which I probably won't use, a dagger which he thought up himself, this sword, and two slow-pitch softball bats."

"Softball bats?" they all seemed confused about the last item on the list.

"Yeah. You'd be surprised at how good of weapons they make, especially when fighting hobgoblins. I took out, like, 10 nests with a good softball bat. Well, we have to get going. Remember, combat classes for Knights and Dragoons start tomorrow."

We headed off, Megumi in awkward conversation with Rayne, and me with Serena. "So, you and Rin, huh?" I started in English.

She stiffened a little. "I don't know what you mean by that."

I rolled my eyes. "I can tell you've been crushing on Rin. You've been doing a good job of hiding it, though. The thing that told me that you and him will end up going out is how hard _he's _been crushing on _you._"

"Kinda like you and Ryuji."

I almost stopped. "What?"

"I could tell you liked him, but you hide it pretty well. Ryuji, on the other hand, can't stop staring at you."

"You won't tell anyone, will you?" we were almost at the girls' dorm.

"Please. Would I? You're keeping the fact that I'm half-demon a secret, plus you're keeping the fact that I like Rin a secret. I won't tell anyone about you and Ryuji, but you really have to do a better job of hiding it around Shima. He has a sixth sense about these things."

"He only has that sixth sense because some part of him knows he'll never get laid, so he can sense other people's relationships." We laughed the whole way back to the dorm, making jokes about the great perv known as Renzou Shima.

When we reached the dorm, she stopped and sobered. "I don't know what you're hiding, but I can sense more angel on you than that sword you have. I won't tell anyone, but I _will_ find out what's so different about you."

When I made it back to my dorm room, I chuckled quietly. _You'll never find out about me, Daughter of Serenity._

XXXXX

The next day, Muki, Imi, Serena, Rayne, Raan, Hotaru, Hirotaka (who still looked pretty beat up), Rin, Ryuji, and I were at cram school. The Tamers and Arias had off because they didn't have to go through combat training. I put two sets of throwing knives, one gun, and my new dagger in my Bayside bag, and the sword on my hip. I noticed that I was the only one who brought her own sword, probably because when everybody else unsheathes theirs, all kinds of freaky happen. In fact, I was the only one who brought a _weapon_. I silently blessed the fact that I put some of my blood in the tiny compartment of the dagger. I had a feeling I would need it.

The Mole cleared his throat, signifying that class was beginning. "Today, we will be training you all to use your respective weapons. I will be on a mission for the rest of the day. All of you will be with our guest teacher who works at the Dragoon Laboratory to get you equipped with your own weapons and show you how to use them. I expect you to treat him with courtesy, because even though he is not an exorcist, he is still important to us." He walked off to go on his mission and in walked the guest teacher. He was a fit man, in his mid-twenties, with blond hair, blue eyes, and a familiar piercing in his left ear.

"Chuck?" I asked with surprise. Muki checked him out again as I rolled my eyes at her.

"You know him?"Asked Ryuji.

Rin elbowed him. "That's her brother. He came in last night."

Ryuji looked him up and down. "I see the resemblance."

It was true. Apart from the different hair and eye color, we were almost twins of each other, apart from the gender difference. We had the same face, thick curly hair, and the build that didn't resemble anyone else in our family: long legs and short torsos. We even had the same hands: small palms in comparison to our long, thin fingers. Anyone could tell we were related.

He spoke up. "Well, as Miss Smith so kindly pointed out, my name is Charles Smith, but I don't like formalities. They make me feel old. So, you can call me Charles, or as Miss Smith calls me, Chuck. Let me get you all weapons as specified by your teachers. Muki Yuka," he read off a paper as he gave her a staff with a sword on top of it. "Imi Suru," he received two whips. "Serena Hayatashi," she received a katana. "Rayne Winterburn," she received two guns. "Raan Umieto," he received a few daggers, but I could tell they weren't like the one he gave me last night. "Hotaru Kagami," she received two guns and a dagger. "Hirotaka Akino," he received two katanas. "Rin Okumura," he received a katana, also. "And Ryuji Suguro." He received a gun, which was the last weapon in the bag he was carrying.

"What about Leigh?" Ryuji asked.

He waved a hand dismissively. "She helped me unpack last night, and I have her weapons then."

Hirotaka asked, "Do you know her?"

My brother gave a crooked smile, "Couldn't you tell by the resemblance and same surname? She's my little sister."

I couldn't help but say, "A little sister who could_ kick your ass_."

He grinned. "Thank you for volunteering, Nick." He put up a target about 10 yards away. "Do you have your throwing knives?" I nodded. "Use one set for target practice."

I opened my bag and took out a set. Under further inspection, I noticed that they were black with a red pattern on each. He must have made them himself. I carried the set over and put the knives I wasn't using on the table. I took a deep breath and focused on the target. I threw the first knife, and found with satisfaction that it landed in the center of the target. I threw them faster, and soon, I was throwing the tenth and final knife. They all landed in the bull's-eye. I gave a cocky grin. "Like I said, a little sister who could kick your ass." I retrieved my knives. They all looked at me.

"Thank you for volunteering again. Did you bring one of your guns?" I nodded again. He snapped his fingers. "Get it. Now."

I did as he said and took out the pistol. I noticed that it didn't have sights, but it didn't matter. If I could shoot a deer in the eye from a tree stand, I could hit a stationary target from the ground no problem, even if there weren't any sights. I took the first shot, and again, after seeing it hit the bull's-eye, I emptied the clip. They all landed in that area. Not in the center of the bull's eye, but close. I smiled again. He told me to get my dagger and put me in some sort of large cage. It was 10'by10'by10'. He released an intermediate level demon that they kept there for training. "You have to be kidding me, right?" I asked and he shook his head. "Whatever." He released the demon. I pressed the button that made the smaller knife shoot out the other side. He knew I dealt with this demon all the time back home, so he knew I could handle it. I slit its throat with the smaller blade before stabbing it in the eye with the other.

"Very good. You're done for now."

Ryuji looked at me with shock. "Did he call you Nick?"

"Yeah, it's his name for me. My middle name is Nicole, so he shortened it to Nick."

"How do you handle weapons like that?"

"I'm no stranger to fighting demons. I've made a pastime of killing lower- and intermediate-level demons since I was 8."

It looked like he didn't breathe. "You were a _rogue_? That's illegal! The Vatican would arrest you if they found out!"

"I was a _what_?"

"A Rogue. An exorcist that received no formal training, and is allied to no one. All they do is kill demons without discretion. Most commonly, someone who lost someone to a demon and is hell-bent on getting revenge. Sometimes, they are people who received their _mashou_ at an early age and were driven mad by seeing demons their entire life, so they kill demons, hoping that it will make their ability to see them go away. I can't believe you would do that."

"Why don't you try to see it from a Rogue's point of view? I have been able to see demons my entire life. The Vatican doesn't even give the forests in Western Pennsylvania a glance, so it's a hotbed for all demons. No one ever believed me, so by the time I turned five, I decided not to bother. I would probably end up in some mental institution if I kept insisting that I saw monsters. You're one of the lucky ones. You didn't _have_ to end up seeing demons. I did. I got my _mashou_ at birth." I pulled up the leg of my sweatpants and rolled down my sock. On my ankle, there were two fang marks that dyed my skin black. Since I was bitten by an infant demon snake at birth, the _mashou_ grew with me. "If you saw _half_ the things I did, you would understand. I wasn't doing it for me. I was doing it for the people in my hometown so they wouldn't get hurt. Once, a little bit after I turned fourteen, I was too late. I won't let that happen again."

He nodded, understanding. "So that's why you're training to become an exorcist."

I gave a bitter laugh. "That's part of it. The other part, well let's just say you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

The dinner bell rang. "Okay, class. That's it for today." Charles said.

Ryuji grabbed my hand. "Come on. They're waiting for us."

I groaned. "I can't. I told my brother that Muki, Rin, and I would tell him what's been happening in cram school, since he only found out a couple weeks ago."

He smiled. "In that case, we'll come with you."

I looked at him. He was obviously eager to talk to me some more. "Ryuji, I said I wanted to _hang out_ with you, not _get you castrated._"

"Come on. How bad can it be?"

I sighed. Did he not understand the relationship between protective brother and little sister? "All right. They're your reproductive organs." We met up with the others. "Change of plans, guys. Thanks to your _fearless leader_, you're going to meet my brother."

**A/N: So, how was it? Please review! Leigh will answer any questions you have. Right, Leigh?**

**Leigh: Shut up. I'm reading **_**Deadpool. **_**You know I like homicidal maniacs. *Sees my glare* Right, I'll answer your questions.**


	13. Failure by Design 2

**A/N: This is another filler. It's about a legacy Leigh's family has that no one knows about because her grandfather didn't introduce the art of Exorcism to her mother or aunt, and didn't know that Leigh got her **_**mashou**_**. I don't own anything. Enjoy! **

Shura POV

I fidgeted under my hoodie as I was walking to another door and took out a key. How could that Leigh girl stand being covered up like that all day? I sighed. I guess I'd have to wonder about that later. Right now, Baldy wanted a meeting with me. I opened it and entered the Japan Branch Headquarters and pulled down my hood.

Baldy greeted me. "Why, Shura, I almost didn't recognize you. You have more than ten percent of your skin hidden."

I greeted him with equal rudeness. "Well I didn't recognize yer from that huge wig of yours which you never take off."

He chuckled a little. "Alright, let's get down to business. I have another assignment for you."

I groaned. "Are yer kidding me? I already have to spy on that Okumura kid. Don't tell me: yer having me watch Miwa Konekomaru because he's the son of Satan." I named the smallest and most nonviolent kid in cram school."

"No. I want you to watch _her_." He laid down a picture. It was a vaguely familiar girl, who looked 14. She had brown hair with blue streaks, glasses, and a cold smile looking at a hidden camera. Her eyes glinted silver through dark blue as she sat on a tree limb. She looked like one of the students in cram school, but I couldn't remember which one. "Leigh Nicole Smith." Under closer inspection, she was holding a softball bat and numerous rocks and sticks that she sharpened and a gun beside her. Was she hunting demons?

There wasn't a girl named 'Smith' in the cram school, though. And the only 'Leigh' there had black hair with red streaks, and no glasses. "Why?"

He sighed, as if he didn't get enough sleep last night. "What do you know about the legacy of the Schmal family?"

All exorcists had to learn about this family. They were the founding family of the Germany Branch in 300 A.D., and incredibly devoted to their Roman Catholic faith. Despite that, however, there were never any Arias coming from that family, only Knights and the occasional Dragoon. "They were an ancient family who found favor with God and the Angels, St. Michael in particular. It's been said that the last of that family would receive a great honor from heaven."

"Correct. Some say it was the Upper First Class Knight, Gerald Schmal, as he didn't pass down the art to his daughters. Some say it was the younger daughter, Delores. Yet still others think it was passed down to the youngest granddaughter, Leigh, because she assumes that surname." He took out a new picture. This girl had the same face, but two years older, without glasses, and her hair was black with red streaks. "Do you recognize her _now_?"

I nodded. "But why do I have to watch her? Even if she _is_ the last Schmal, and I don't think she is, if she really has the honor so often talked about, the Vatican wouldn't have a _prayer_ of stopping her."

Baldy shook his head. "I never said anything about _killing_ her; I just want to see what this gift is and if the Vatican can use it to its advantage. Also, I want to see her power to make sure she won't go Rogue again. We have good reason to think that she was a Rogue, but because of her lineage, no one could dare touch her."

"What reason do yer have to think that she was a Rogue?"

He put out a chart. Where was he getting this crap from? "This is demon activity over the past fifteen years in the area that she was from. Notice how fifteen years ago, demon activity was high. Eight years ago, when she was eight, the population started dropping steadily, until four years ago, when she was twelve, which is the year when children get their gun safety licenses, the demon activity dropped even more, and notice in March, when she moved to Japan, demon activity skyrocketed."

"So? The question on my mind _isn't_ 'is she a Rogue?' it's 'Why is the northeastern America Branch blatantly ignoring Ebensburg?' the mission of all Exorcists is to protect humans from demons. Right there is five thousand humans that yer were ignoring. No wonder she always says that she hates the Vatican." It was ridiculous. If no one was looking at her town, than she had every reason to hunt demons.

"That is just five thousand humans. In a hick town. And most of them are old, anyway. It would be a waste of effort." He waved his hand dismissively. "Anyway, about this girl, she is also to be considered a threat to the Vatican, but _do not engage_. I want you to watch her in addition to the Okumura boy. But be warned, she is said to be very protective of her friends."

"I noticed." It was true; when her friend Muki fell from a tree during a mission, Leigh hunted down her partner and threatened him for letting Muki get hurt.

"Notice anything different about her: glowing eyes, knives coming out of nowhere, wings, white blood, let us know. However, there is an easier way to know if she is the last Schmal: the legend clearly states that on her left shoulder, there is a scar or birthmark of a spear and caduceus crossing, forming an 'X'. If you find that mark, let us know, but do not go after her. You may go."

I got up and left. I had a plot that if I could bring Rin to the headquarters, Leigh would insist she goes with him. I would call them both risk factors to the Vatican and bring them to the Great Cell and 'interrogate' them.

Until then, I had to figure out on my own how Leigh could possibly wear that damn hoodie all the time.

**A/N: I probably won't have any real chapters up for a while, but I have a lot more fillers in the works. Please tell me what you think of this story, and Leigh will answer any questions you have. Right, Leigh?**

**Leigh: Yeah, sure. Just don't go Muki level with stuff.**


	14. Failure by Design 3

**A/N: Here's another filler. It's a nightmare. Literally.**

**Me: okay, Leigh, we have a question.**

**Leigh: *looks up from **_**Deadpool**_*** come on, he was just gonna kill somebody! *Sees my glare* okay, let's hear it.**

**Me: it's from your good friend Muki**

**Leigh: DEAR GOD! HER QUESTIONS NEVER END, DO THEY?**

**Me: No, they don't. Okay, it says, "What do you mean 'don't go Muki level with stuff? DO YOU WANT PIE?**

**Leigh: *reads from self-made dictionary* "Go Muki-Level with Stuff: verb. To ask irrelevant questions in large quantities." Is that answer good enough? Do I want pie? Only apple or blueberry. And only if Rin makes it. Sorry, Muki, I don't trust your cooking.**

_I was walking along the road that lead to the church I attended here in Japan. When I saw the cemetery, I walked up to it to pay my respects to fallen Exorcists, which I did twice a month. There were new gravestones._

_I looked at the names. No. This wasn't real! It couldn't be!_

Ryuji Suguro: 1996-2012

Renzou Shima: 1996-2012

Miwa Konekomaru: 1996-2012

Muki Yuka: 1996-2012

Shiemi Moriyama: 1997-2012

_The gravestones all said the names of my friends at cram school, until I stopped at one in horror._

Charles Smith: 1987-2012

_Even _my brother_ was dead. But I didn't see mine. Suddenly, I saw something. It looked like Ryuji. _

"_I _cared_ about you!" it screamed. "Why couldn't you save us? Why couldn't you trust us? We were your friends. We trusted you to keep us safe!"_

_Next, my brother floated up to me. "I always thought that you could keep me safe. As long as you were with me, no harm would come. I never did get an answer to my question _kiddo,_" he said the last word with disgust. "What _are _you? You're not even human! After all, what kind of human doesn't even bleed red?"_

_They all came at me, asking why I couldn't trust them. Why I couldn't save them. They started attacking me._

* * *

><p>I woke in a cold sweat. <em>It wasn't real. Just a dream. It wasn't real. Just a dream.<em> If it was a dream, though, why was it so real? I looked at my clock: 4:00 a.m. Damn. Well, it was obvious that I wasn't going to get any more sleep. _Screw it,_ I thought as I popped a Star Trek DVD in the player. I selected the 'Trouble with Tribbles' episode.

At cram school, I looked at everyone, remembering the things their ghosts said. Muki poked me. "Are you okay? You seem kind of scared today."

I grinned. "Are you saying that something _scared _me? Come on, don't be ridiculous. Come on, let's hang out with the gang, alright?"

_What kind of human doesn't even bleed red?_

_I don't know. Maybe I'm not human after all. How can I go around masquerading as normal, when my blood isn't even red?_

**Please review! I accept anonymous reviews! And Leigh will answer your questions!**


	15. Chapter 12

**A/N: okay, this is great! Leigh, guess what?**

**Leigh: What?**

**Me: Muki's not asking you any questions**

**Leigh: THANK GOD!**

**Also: GET IT THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULLS! I ONLY OWN LEIGH AND CHUCK!**

"Why are we going to see Leigh's brother again?" Raan asks as Muki jumps through leaves. She would have loved it back home. My house was surrounded by woods… "Are you even-woah!" he cried as Muki pulled/pushed him in.

Muki replied ever-cheerily, "Yes I was listening to you but I chose not to." Raan groaned as Muki started doing her ADD thing and danced around the leaves.

I said quietly, "I really didn't want to play this card but…ha! Gambit joke!" I spoke louder, "Muki! Hurry up or you won't be able to see Chuck!" I smirked as she perked up like a groundhog. Now when can I hit her over the head with a shovel… just kidding!

"Coming!" she screamed, physically pulling Raan behind her. I might have felt bad for him if it wasn't for the fact that he seriously endangered her life twice. Three strikes, and lights out.

XXXXX

"Yo Nick! I thought you guys weren't coming!" he flagged us down in front of a fountain. "Who's this guy?" he pointed at Ryuji.

"That's Ryuji. He was at training, remember? Two pistols?" I hissed quietly in English.

"I'm Suguro, another friend of theirs."

"Is he your," Chuck switched to English for the last word, "boyfriend?" At the last word, as I glared, Ryuji turned beet red. Apparently he knew SOME English.

"No, he just came with us. Now do you want me to tell you or not?" he gave a quick nod as I continued. "Yes, we are in cram school. I don't know about them," I pointed at the others. "After… I almost attacked you that day; I knew I had to go somewhere safe and to learn how to control myself. I thought of Japan and found True Cross." They all paled at the word attacked. Muki even mouthed it.

"You could have told me in the beginning about that you know. You didn't have to run away." Muki squeals and claps, and all of us turn to face her with questioning looks.

Chuck whispered to me in English, "She doesn't get how dangerous you are, does she?" I simply shook my head. After that day, every time I would get a new ability, I'd show my brother.

"So cute! I wish my family was like that." Raan pats her head then she perks up scaring him shitless, causing him to fall off the rim of the fountain and into it. Of course the crazy brother/sister combo we were, we laughed at them.

"Sorry Raan!" Muki reaches in to help pull him up but he ends up pulling her in also. Me and Ryuji face palm. I started muttering some rather… choice words in French implying how big of idiots they are.

"Now do you see what we have to survive with everyday?" Chuck nods at my rhetorical question.

"Why don't we go back to the dorms for dry clothes and then for ice cream?" Charles smiles at them. He whispers to me, "Even _me and Marc_ weren't that stupid."

"We didn't stick lighted sparklers on our stomachs. We didn't put a big beetle in an Oreo just to record it coming out. We didn't go to the end of a driveway and pull up our shorts to show people how pale our thighs were. You're still more stupid." (**A/N**: yes, my brother and his friend did all of that. He was an idiot during high school.)

"Good point."

XXXXX

We were at my brother's apartment, where he was rummaging around in one of his duffel bags for something. He pulled it out with a victorious smile. I instantly went to 'comic book nerd' mode. "X-Men? You got me X-Men?" I smiled.

"Yeah. It's funny what happens to Wolverine. He-"

"Spoil it and die, Chuck."

"Hey guys! Me and Raan are going back to our dorms to get changed!" Muki yells. She and Raan leave the three of us alone.

"It's been quiet back home without you," he told me while I was flipping through the comic. Woah! Rogue and Gambit scene! Score! I nod as he continues, "I couldn't find anyone to give these comics to. After all, who reads them these days?" he held up my _the Walking Dead _and _Deadpool _comics that I had to leave at home.

"Wade!" I cried as I took one of the _Deadpool _comics and started reading it. "I tried to find this here but all they have is manga and their X-men look really bad." Muki and I had gone to the mall, against my will, so we could get those ugly stuffed animals Muki had bought. Everywhere in every comic book store I looked in, I couldn't find X-men or any of the comics. Not even Deadpool or X-23! Who doesn't love the Merc with a Mouth? Seriously!

Chuck spoke up. "Could you umm… make lasagna for dinner?"

I roll my eyes at him. "Is that the only reason you came here? My cooking?" he nodded "Kendra's going to be _pissed_."

He laughed nervously. "Actually, Kendra broke it off with me when I said I wanted to go to Japan to spend more time with you. She said that she didn't want to get between us because we're still kind of shaky."

I threw a pillow at him as I went into the kitchen.

"So, you're Leigh's boyfriend, right?" he leaned over to Ryuji, who was probably red.

"CHUCK! IF YOU DON'T STOP HARASSING THAT POOR DRAGOON, I WILL MURDER YOU, YOU GOT THAT?

Ryuji responded cooly, "Nope, just friend."

I reached into the fridge and pulled out a bottle of whisky. "CHUCK! GET OVER HERE AND EXPLAIN YOURSELF!"

"Oops," he shrank back as he walked over to the fridge.

"Oops? You said you were going to stop drinking." I whispered.

"I was. I am. It's hard."

"Then let me make this less hard for you." I walked over to the sink and poured the contents into it as I threw it away. I changed the subject as I said, "Please don't pressure Ryuji. I supported your roommate by not saying anything about dating. Can you at least do the same for me? Support like a man."

"But I can tell he likes you."

"Because everyone wants the psychopathic demon-killing machine who makes knives when she gets mad." I said sarcastically.

"Fine," he said. "But can I at least read one of those _Walking Deads _while you're cooking.

I threw the first issue at him. "Knock yourself out."

**Please Review! You can ask Leigh any questions!**

**Leigh: within reason.**

**Me: like I said, any questions.**


	16. Chapter 13

**Me: Okay, Leigh, more questions!**

**Leigh: Oh, hell.**

**Me: first up, Muki!**

**Leigh: oh, **_**hell**_

**Me: here it is: how are you and Suguro? Do you like him like really like? Are you dating ham and can I do a dance party? **

**Leigh: *blushing furiously* we're good, yes, no because I'm still waiting for the stubborn idiot to make a move, and no.**

**Me: this is from someone named Bei: How the flying mint bunny do you lie to this hyper girl? And from me: how do you blush? Your blood is WHITE.**

**Leigh: years of practice. And Opera: I honestly have no friggin' clue.**

**Me: this is from Asukio: DO YOU LIKE WAFFLES? Oh, and a warning: there's a camera in Muki's room. She might try to get pictures of you and Bon together.**

**Leigh: What kind of human doesn't like—Wait. Heh heh. I'm not human. Yeah, I like waffles. As for the camera, well. *evil smile***

**Me: What did you do?**

**Leigh: I filled up the memory card with dirty yaoi manga pictures.**

**Me: but you hate yaoi. **

**Leigh: but every other teenage girl in Japan loves it.**

**Me: oh and MeiMeiaru8 wants to know if you're a Klingon, Romulan, or Vulcan.**

**Leigh: okay, I don't have cranial ridges. My blood is not green. So none of the above.**

**Me: oh, and random author's note: MY BROTHER DIDN'T GO OUT LAST NIGHT! VICTORY!**

**On with the show!**

After I finished making dinner and dessert, which was fried ice cream, Muki and Raan came back. Muki saw the lasagna and poked it tentatively. "Umm, I never had this before. What is it?"As if on cue, me and Chuck facepalmed.

"It's lasagna. Italian food. You know, Italian like that wussy character on that Hetalia show you like."

She slowly took a bite. "Wow, Leigh, you can cook!" Before long, she downed two pieces. And then, for some unknown reason, she took out some pixie sticks. Oh, hell.

Before long, she downed twenty five (TWENTY-FREAKING-FIVE!) pixie sticks, and was running around the room, before she ran face-first into Charles. "DA-ZEE! Oomph!" she said as she made contact. At first, watching her was funny, but it was starting to get dumb.

"Got her," Chuck said as he pulled her in. right now, tomato wouldn't even describe how hard she was blushing. Honestly, I knew my brother was toned, but seriously? "Geez, Raan, what the _hell_ did you give her?"

He chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his head. "Umm, well, it's a funny story. She said she found some pixie sticks and I told her not to eat them, and now she did, and well, don't you Americans call this a 'sugar rush'?" Muki was still running, long sleeves trailing in the air. Ryuji was somehow just calmly sitting there, eating his ice cream.

He looked up. Wow, Leigh, this is really good. Thank you for the meal."

"DA-ZEE!"I think you can guess who said it. Oh, wait. Wade says I'm breaking the fourth wall. Thanks, Wade!

Chuck looked at the green-haired girl with a raised eyebrow. "I don't think she needs any ice cream."

"Welcome to my life," I said, waving over Ryuji just sitting there, looking at me occasionally before turning away, blushing slightly, Raan, trying to stop Muki, telling her that she shouldn't dance like that in an apartment, and Muki, singing and dancing.

"I am so sorry." Suddenly, we heard some yelling. Raan smiled slightly as we just ignored it.

"Actually, some other people are nice. Rin's like my little brother. Spyro—he's a tamer—is really cool, once you get to know him, and Hirotaka is really nice. There's also Hotaru, who's got it bad for him, and Shiemi, who's really quiet and sweet."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's like we're all each other's brothers and sisters, except for Rin and Ryuji. They're in a different group.

Muki was at the end of her song, and kicked a vase. It was a present from Kendra. I caught it before it could break, but now Chuck was in a bad mood.

"Seriously, Muki lay off the pixie sticks," I said warningly.

Muki promptly says something about candy and unicorns, takes a deep breath, and passes out.

My brother and I sigh as he looks out the window, rubbing his temples from the yelling. "This is fucking getting on my nerves," he says before walking outside. When he came back, he was wearing a huge grin. "Suguro, I think that your pink-haired friend might see what's inside of a Leaper."

I grinned like a maniac as I unsheathed my sword. "Then that Leaper is about to experience the true meaning of fear." The sword was my weapon of choice. Things usually got gory when I used one. It was time to have some fun.


	17. Chapter 14

**A/N: I don't own anything besides Leigh and Charles.**

I held my sword, eyes black in anticipation of the fight and a manic smile on my face. Muki, seeing how scary and insane I looked, inched towards Charles, who pats Muki's head affectionately and shook his head at me.

"Nick, not yet," he said, when his translator/Bluetooth thing buzzed and spoke into it. "Actually, turns out Nick, you might get to cut something up. We have to head back to the academy because something's happening."

"YES!"I said. Once I had the promise of a fight, almost nothing could calm me down.

"Can I at least finish my ice cream?" Ryuji asked, holding his bowl up.

"You're not done with that?" I asked. He shook his head. I rolled my eyes. "Come on, let's get all up in arms."

Once inside, I sheathed my sword and dagger, and took out a set of throwing knives. I changed my typical half-gloves to leather ones, hiding the small white and black energy leaking from them and the atrocities that were my hands: scored with claw marks and covered with bites and a couple of scars where I cut my palms so the blood would attract demons. Of course after my blood turned white, the blood repelled them instead. I took off my hoodie to show a tank top, and Ryuji looked at my left shoulder. I tossed him one of my guns. "Catch," I told him.

My brother looked at me: hair in a ponytail, gray tank top, camo pants, combat boots, and twelve weapons. "If you wore black leather, you'd be the frigging Black Widow. But I guess right now, you're a cross between her and X-23."

"Funny," I said sarcastically.

XXXXX

"What are we doing here, Mole?" Rin asked as he cast a glance my way. I smirked. Poor Yukio probably didn't even know that I made that name up for him.

"A haunted carnival," he replied. "Many people came there on dares, but never returned. The Exorcists that were sent there disappeared as well." He looked at all of us. His eyes lingered on my left shoulder for a little bit, and when he saw my birthmark, his eyes widened. What was with these people? Didn't they ever see a birthmark before?

He said the groups. "Muki and Imi." Both voiced their discontent. "Hirotaka, Hotaru, Shiemi, and Rayne. Serena, Rin, Shima, Raan, and Izumo. And Leigh, your group is you, Muki, and Imi with Spyro and Suguro." With that, everyone went to talk before we had to split into our groups. I walked up to Yukio.

"Yukio-kun," I said, remembering his request to call him informally outside of the classroom, as we were classmates in regular school, and so, it could get awkward. "I'm not sure I should be in charge. I was in charge at the cave, and I lost two of my teammates."

"Anyone would have lost someone under those conditions. We were expecting a few minor demons. No one expected for a Greater Demon to show up. The fact that you remained calm under stress and managed to get those under your command back is the mark of a true leader. Besides, with your standing in class, we couldn't exactly send anyone else as leader."

"Okay, but if this all goes to hell, don't say I didn't warn you."

I rejoined the group to hear Muki say, "Don't worry! You'll be able to kick those clowns all the way to Canada and back!" she ran ahead. I grabbed the back of her hanbok.

"We don't need you to die yet, Muki. Even if there are zombies and stuff from a comic, we _don't need dead bodies_. This will be a clean, in-and-out exorcism. There will be no drama between you and Imi. Do I make myself clear?" Muki was trying to get out of my grip. I wasn't even holding her all that tightly. I let her go.

"Well, it seems that we're here," Ryuji said. The carnival looked like a ghost town. The gate was swinging with the wind, the old rusted hinges creaking.

Imi asked, "Alright, who wants to go first?"

"Let's get this over with so I can read my X-Men." I walk ahead, the only thing on my mind was that if that weird white and black energy showed up, and people saw, that would _suck_.

Inside the carnival, I immediately felt something watching me. The presence was evil, but not nearly as bad as the cave.

We walked to the carousel, it started operating, and Muki freaked. Suddenly, I heard a whispering. _"Fresh flesh. Fresh flesh. Fresh bones. Fresh bones."_

I called out to everyone. "Do you hear that?" _"Fresh blood. Fresh blood."_ The energy crackled around my hand again. I hid my hands. The gloves didn't hide it. My iPod suddenly started playing Panic! at the Disco's 'this is Halloween,' only it was playing the creepy music box ending over and over. I thought back to my nightmare that I had almost every night now. Was this where I failed them? Was this where everyone in the cram school and my brother died?

**Please review! I accept anonymous reviews and I'm still taking questions for Leigh!**

_Also, next chapter: For the first time in a long time, I was afraid. Not nervous, but genuinely afraid. Then, I remembered something Spock said in the new Star Trek movie: _"The goal is to experience fear, fear in the face of certain death, and to accept that fear, and maintain control of oneself and one's crew." _What was happening right now wasn't certain death, but the principle was the same. _Bring it on, _I thought, _you won't be able to impair my judgement. We _will _get out alive, and you won't stop me.


	18. Chapter 15

**A/N: Okay, I have some Ryuji Leigh fluff! I don't own the plot. I only own Leigh, now on with the show.**

I walked over to Muki. "Muki, you have to get up. Now. Come on…" I trailed off. The horses on the carousel were suddenly moving. The black one's eyes started glowing red and smoke came from its nostrils. All of the others followed suit as it pawed to the ground. I realized in horror that that was where the whispering was coming from. _"Fresh flesh. Fresh bones. Fresh blood,"_ they all said in unison. "Ryuji," I called to him.

"What?"

"Guard Muki until she gets back up. Imi, Spyro, and I will take care of these." He nodded and ran to Muki's side, gun at the ready. Spyro was drawing like crazy, his familiar slashing everything in sight. Unfortunately, it had little effect.

"Imi, tell me you're _half _as good with a sword as I am."

Suddenly, a horse ran at Muki's prone body. _No, not again, _I thought. _I won't be too late to save someone this time._ "GET AWAY FROM HER!" I yelled, and on impulse, I thrust my hand towards it. The white and black energy manifested itself, and hit the horse on the side. I felt small amounts of white travel through my eyes. The horse charged at me, sharp teeth bared. _"You shouldn't have done that, little girl. But I suppose you will be especially tasty." _I drew my sword. "Try me," I said. It ran faster as I jumped up, landed on its back, and cut its head off.

The other horses saw me as a threat and started coming at me. For the first time in a long time, I was afraid. Not nervous, but genuinely afraid. Then, I remember something Spock said in the new Star Trek movie. _"The goal is to experience fear. Fear in certain death, and to accept that fear, and to maintain control of oneself and one's crew." _What was happening now wasn't exactly certain death, but the principle was the same. _Bring it on, fear, _I thought, _you won't impair my judgment. We _will _get out of this alive, and you won't stop me. _"Imi, tell me you can do something. Didn't something in Exorcist History class say something about Yashas having a special ability?"

"Umm, yeah, I can call forward certain magical creatures."

"DO IT!"

He started chanting and a third eye appeared on his forehead. Suddenly, a dragon appeared. I made a dagger and said the first two lines of prayer of St. Michael over it. I yelled as I charged the horses. I was slashing and cutting like crazy, until one horse bit my hand. It drew blood. I dropped the sword almost immediately. The boys looked at my white blood. "Umm, these are not the droids you are looking for?" I said nervously. They still looked at me. "Honestly, guys, what are you looking at? There's nothing wrong with my blood." _Okay, let's go to hand-to-hand combat mode, _I thought. The dragon and Spyro's familiar were obviously doing their jobs, so I focused on the ones after me. No matter how hard I hit them, they only came back. I really didn't want to do this, but I already had an excuse. I let the wings out, making a sword along with them, only for some reason, this one was black and silver. _"Curses," _one of the horses said. _"How did you know that we are vulnerable to adamantine, Halfling?"_

Adamantium? I asked Michael. Like Wolverine's claws? I felt Michael mentally roll his eyes. _No, adamantine. It is what the gates of Hell are made of. It is unbreakable. I thought that you READ _Paradise Lost. Oh. Now I remember. "I didn't," I said, "but thanks for the tip." I flew up before diving on each one of them, stabbing them. "Imi, is that sword of yours adamantine?" He shook his head. "Then let your dragon get them." I once more thrust my hand at the horses, and once more, the energy manifested itself, only now it was solid, and it literally broke them to pieces. I saw one biting Ryuji. "NO!" I yelled as I returned to be human, before passing out.

I woke up about two minutes later, and saw Ryuji bleeding from a gash in his arm. "Imi, how does he look?" I asked as I walked towards the two.

"I'm not very good in Yukio's class. I'm not sure."

I looked at the gash. "Shit. It bit an artery. Imi, I'm going to ask you to look the other way while I help Ryuji. Only I can save him now."

I looked at Ryuji. He was unconscious from the blood loss. I cut my wrist with a throwing knife, and watched it patch up, the muscles and arteries reconnecting, and finally the skin regrew. I knew that it would be a couple minutes before he was fully awake.

Slowly, he opened his eyes. "Hey," I said.

"Hey," he returned weakly. "I didn't let Muki get hurt." I laughed. "And you didn't lose anybody this time. I saw this light, then the horse bit me, then I lost consciousness. Also, there's something I want to say." I leaned in to hear him better and I watched Spyro help Muki stand up, still looking haunted. He kissed me. His lips were surprisingly soft on mine.

I gasped when he ended the kiss, and Muki squealed. "I KNEW IT! I KNEW YOU LIKED HIM! I KNEW HE LIKED YOU!" She was doing a victory dance, and Spyro was trying to calm her down.

"Muki-ya, please calm down! You might hurt yourself!" Of course, Muki being… well, Muki, she wouldn't calm down.

"So Leigh, I was wondering if…" Ryuji started, then stopped.

"Spit it out, Bonnie."

"Would you like to go somewhere on Saturday after cram school?"

I gave a cocky grin. "Ryuji Suguro, did you just ask me out?"

He smiled. "Yeah. I guess I did." After he said that, my grin turned into a smile.

**And that's it for this chapter. That little Ryuji/Leigh fluff was for you, MeiMeiaru8, who thought that they were cute together.**


	19. Chapter 16

**A/N: Okay, I am officially angry with how the Phillies have been playing lately. They **_**can't**_** score and abandon runners. They even got their butts kicked by the NATIONALS for crying out loud. But once they get Utley and Howard back, they'll be able to score runs again :D. Until then, I'm hoping that Chooch (Ruiz) will remain a beast with hitting. Now away with the baseball talk, and on with the show!**

**Leigh: Opera only owns me and my overprotective brother. Get it through your head. And check these guys out. They're pretty great. The guy singer and guitarist is Opera's big bro, who Chuck is based off. www. Purevolume element of surprise pa Take out the spaces. DO IT! Listen to the awesomeness.**

After the big fight, I called the Mole and put my phone on speaker. I noticed that Muki still seemed creeped out, though, even though she was doing her "Ryuji and Leigh are finally going out" victory dance.

The Mole picked up on the fourth ring. "This is Okumura." I stifled a laugh. He ALWAYS answered his phone like that. Never "It's Yukio." Just "This is Okumura." Don't ask me why.

"Hello, Okumura-sensei. We just finished up our part of our mission. Is there anything else we should do?"

"No, that is all. Your brother and I are waiting for you. May I say that he is disrespectful and calls me 'Four-eyes' and asks me if I have a pole up my butt?"

I covered my mouth to keep from laughing and I heard hysterical laughter on the other end. Once I recovered, I said, "That's my brother. Get used to it. He says what goes through his head. No filters."

I heard some muffled discussion between the two before he said, "Leigh, Smith-sensei wants to talk to you."

Over the phone I heard my brother yell, "Stop it with the honorifics, kid! I'm only twenty-four!"

Mole sighed and said, "Leigh, _Charles _wants to speak to you."

I chuckled before saying, "Let him on."

My brother wasted no time before saying, "Hey kiddo, how did everything work out?"

"It was hard as hell, but I pulled it off."

Muki yelled out, "Hey Chuck! You'll never guess what Suguro asked Leigh!"

"What?" my brother asked.

"It's nothing," I said, covering my trail. By now, I was so good at lying that I should be a politician. "Ryuji just asked if I could help him with his homework sometime. He's been having trouble in Yukio's class."

I could imagine him rolling his eyes. "Get the skunk head. Now."

Ryuji, who was already listening, walked up by me and put his hand around my shoulder. He was surprisingly warm. "Yes, Mr. Smith?" he asked nervously.

"You should worry more about your gun work than in Four Eyes' class. I only saw you hold a gun, and I can tell you suck. Let Leigh help you out with that instead. And by the way, ask her out already or I'll kick your ass."

"Chuck," I cut in, "Put Yukio back on. I'll see you later." Ryuji left me alone to talk with the others, completely red.

After Yukio got his phone back, I immediately said, "Yukio, are you sure the other groups don't need help? I just heard a scream coming from the west about 2 minutes ago. I think we should go help them."

"No."

I just froze. I was _sure_ I heard a scream coming from somewhere to the west, but he wasn't letting us go down for reinforcement. "What do you mean, 'no'? I just heard a scream and you're not letting us go down for backup? Are you _asking_ for them to get injured or killed?"

"I said no. Exorcists need to fight their own fights. This is training, and they can't be waiting for someone to go and rescue them. Miss Schmal, if you want to stay in the cram school and if you want any secret you could be hiding to stay hidden from the Vatican, you will go directly to the rendezvous point. Do I make myself clear?"

It physically hurt me to say these words, but I choked out, "Yes, sir," with as much venom as I could possibly put into those words.

I took out a bottle of holy water, and sprinkled some on each of the horses' pieces, silently saying, "On the second day, He made the Earth, and He saw that it was good," and making the Sign of the Cross. "Alright, we have to head back to the rendezvous point. I don't like it, but I don't have a choice." I walked over to Muki, who tripped and skinned her knee and helped her up. Turning around, we started walking back to the rendezvous point.

Just as we were about to leave the courtyard, I sensed something, and soon, I figure emerged from the eerie shadows of the tents. _Shit, _I thought. _Not this bastard again. _The figure was something from your worst nightmares: black, with an alligator's body, a pair of pinchers, three scorpions' tails, and the head of a bat. It was six and a half feet tall and eight feet long. Its eyes were a glowing beet red. Upon seeing it, I heard in my memory the voice of a little boy, no more than four, crying for me to help him before being cut off by a scream that held all the pain and terror in the world, followed by the sound of ripping. I hated this demon. It could rip you into shreds with its pinchers. I was all too familiar with it, although I've only encountered one once. Suddenly, two creatures followed it, only they had two tails.

I turned around to the others, their faces frozen in terror. "Guys, you need to run. Go directly back to the rendezvous point, and don't stop for anything. Stay with Yukio and my brother, and I'll catch up. Right now, I have to take care of this thing."

Muki drew her eyes away from the monsters. "But what about you?" she asked quietly.

"I'll be fine," I said, trying to convince her as much as myself. I barely won against one. There were three here. I stopped. "Ryuji." He looked at me. "I'm counting on you. Don't let them get hurt. Lead them to the rendezvous point and tell the Mole that I'm just checking for any more demons." He nodded. "Now go! Run!"

They sprinted to the rendezvous point, Muki sending one last worried look my way. I turned around, saying the most horribly American line ever, bad New York accent and all. I pulled my sword out and said, "SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!" I sprinted towards the first one, and it took three slashes until I cut through its thick hide and felt the hot black spray on my face and chest.

After that, the demon saw me as a threat and grabbed my left arm with its pincher, drawing blood. I reached for my belt and pulled out my dagger. I stabbed it at the joint, where the armor was thinnest. It hissed in pain, releasing my sword arm and rearing back the leftmost tail. It struck, grazing my waist. It prepared to attack again, so I slid underneath the monster, emerging from its back. I had to be silent now as I knew that the slightest sound would ruin my chance at killing this thing. I stood up and jumped to the top of the nearest tent. Unsheathing my sword, I jumped, the sword behind my head, held in both hands as to maximize the force. Landing briefly on the middle tail, I jumped again, bringing the sword further behind my head before bringing it forward, splitting the head nearly in half.

Taking a long breath, I realized just how much energy that this maneuver took. I looked at the second one, grinning. "Come at me, bro," I said before launching myself at it. This time, I realized that the armor on the underside was thinner than on the back. I slid under the next creature's armor, before being pulled out.

I saw a new figure emerging from the woods, only this one was definitely human. It ran at the third demon and I realized who it was. I returned my attention to the demon's appendage tightening itself around my waist. It was getting harder to breathe. Arms pinned to my sides, I realized I had to use brute force to get out of this one. I started pulling my arms away from my sides, using some of the reserved 'special strength', and I finally freed myself from the pincher. Not wanting to go through that again, I pulled out my sword and cut off the arms that the pinchers were attached to. I slid under, finally stabbing the thing in the heart.

"Thank you," I said grudgingly to Yamada who killed his (maybe her?) demon. I hated admitting that I needed help, but I would have died.

"No problem," he said in a strangely feminine voice before taking his hood off to show… a she, with pink hair with blond tips, and violet eyes. "Leigh Nicole Smith, granddaughter of Gerald Schmal."

"Yamada?" What the hell? Yamada was a chick? Why was she covering her face and dressing like a dude?

She smiled slightly and took off her hoodie and undid bindings around her chest. For the first time in my life, I felt flat-chested. I mean, I don't swing that way, but you can't _not _notice how massive they are. Oh, Shima would _love_ her. "My name is Shura Kuragukure, Upper First Class Exorcist. I'm here to evaluate risk factors, and you're about as dangerous as they come, so you're coming with me." She reached for my wrist.

I pulled it away. "I don't care _who_ you are. _Nobody_ is taking me anywhere, so screw off, Implants." I called her that because let's face it: there is no way in_ hell_ that those things were real.

"That's a shame. I was ordered to get either you or Rin Okumura. But I suppose that that older brother of yours could do, as well."

I closed my eyes, trying to contain my anger. "That was a cheap shot, even for Vatican scum like you." Her cocky smirk disappeared. "But I won't let you hurt my friend or my brother, so I'm coming with you."

XXXXX

At the rendezvous point, my group and Serena's were the only ones there. Yukio's eyes widened. "Shura?"

"Four-eyed Chicken! You remembered me! Well, I have to go. But first," she grabbed the front of Rin's shirt and flung her hand over her shoulder as though she was carrying a purse rather than a human being, "I have to borrow your brother for a minute."

Chuck stepped in front of Shura. "And what do you think you are doing with my sister?"

Never mind that I was stronger than him from age eight, the idiot felt that he had to _protect _me. I rolled my eyes. "I'm gonna interrogate them, so get out of my way, Curly." I had to resist the urge to laugh, but then I realized that she took Rin, too.

I snatched my wrist out of her grasp. "What the hell! The only reason I agreed to go with you is because you said you wouldn't take him if I went with you! We had a deal!"

She considered it. "Well, Rin has priority, so I can leave you alone for now." She shrugged as she started walking again.

"Wait," she stopped. "I won't leave you alone with Rin because if I don't watch out for him, you'll probably torture him, so I'm coming with you."

She smiled as if this was exactly what she wanted. "Well, if you insist, you can come with us."


	20. Chapter 17

**A/N: Hey, people… hehe… sorry for that late update… but without further ado, I give you the fight scene!**

**I only own Leigh.**

I was spent. There was no use in sugarcoating it. The adrenalin from before had worn off and I had to admit, it was taking all I had to stay on my feet, following Shura.

Rin seemed to notice my lack of energy. "Leigh, what's wrong?"

I raised my eyebrow. "Two huge fights. I'm not frigging Kenshin Himura; I can't do multiple boss fights in one day. Now quiet so I can listen to my music." With that, I put my ear buds in and turned on some Bayside. Thankfully, when the creepiness had ended, my iPod was back to normal. I just let myself be distracted by the lyrics. _"Got a stage and a mike, which I use to say things you won't like…" _I mentally sang along. When I got to _"I and I, we're taking control of our lives," _Shura stopped us.

"Here's the Tokyo Branch Headquarters. Stay here while I get your cell." She told a young man, about 19, that she wanted the Great Cell. He nervously handed her the key. She grabbed Rin again and dragged us to the cell she was using.

She stopped when Rin looked at the inscription above the door, asking, "What's that mean?"

I looked at the inscription above, as well, a Latin saying, extremely old, _Beati Bellicosi._ Shura looked at it, too. "It ain't Japanese, it ain't English, I don't know what the hell it means."

"I do; _Beati Bellicosi, _'Blessed are the Warriors'." I returned their confused glances. "What? My grandfather taught me Latin and German."

Entering the cell, I understood exactly why it was called the 'Great Cell'. That's because it was freaking huge. You could fit half the dorm in it.

Throwing Rin aside, she chanted and put her hand above the tattoo on her chest as a purple sword came out. Once it was out all the way, she sprinted towards Rin, who had just stood up. Unsheathing the katana that was thankfully the one that my brother gave him, he tried to block the attack, blue flames instinctually coming to his aid.

She smirked. "Those flames… Satan's blue flames… that is the evidence I need to prove that you are, indeed, related to Satan." She stopped. "Okumura Rin, adopted son of Fujimoto Shirou, brother of Okumura Yukio, I declare you related to Satan and sentence you to death." She charged him again, sword aimed for his heart. Rin recovered from the shock in time to redirect the stab, but barely, cutting his side.

I ran to his side, fatigue gone, and adrenalin coursing through my veins again. My sword blocked a shot aimed downward, one hand on the hilt, another on the flat of the blade, forcing me on one knee. "You just made a big mistake," I growled, glaring up at her, forcing myself to my feet. We paced each other waiting for the other to make a move.

She started talking. "So protective. Just like Gerry, eh?"

_What? No, Leigh, focus. Read her movements. Watch her paces, pay attention to how her arms move. _"What do you mean?" I watched her. Her feet still paced a circle, arms not so much as twitching.

"I mean that you're just like your grandfather. I can tell right now. You're trying to read my movements." She ran forward, sword making a clear intention of slicing sideways. I reciprocated the charge, sword making a pose of stabbing. This was a game of 'Chicken', I knew. Whoever lost their nerve would back out, and we would be stuck in stalemate. But I wasn't backing out. That wasn't something I did. I knew that my sword was deadly sharp, capable of cutting through a body with one swipe. It wasn't going to hesitate ending Shura's life. On the other end of the spectrum, Shura's sword was just as sharp, and hers had a design that wasn't improved upon for years, and there was a reason for that: as far as weapons that didn't involve gunpowder went, the katana was the perfect sword, a killing machine. The same thoughts seemed to come through Shura's head, as she feinted to the right, spinning around, pacing again, sword at the ready.

"How did you know my grandfather?" I asked, watching more closely for movement. Nothing. I was clearly outmatched; at least as far as being able to hide strategy went.

"He taught me. You didn't really think that that old Dragoon was able to teach me swordsmanship. Your grandfather was the best Knight out there." She charged me again, sword in a hauntingly familiar position, but not something my grandfather could possibly know. The Gatotsu. I only knew about it because when I was studying to join the cram school, I paid special attention to the sword forms while reading _Rurouni Kenshin_. There wasn't any stopping her. _This is it, _I thought. But then a blue blur of motion knocked me out of the way.

"Rin?" I asked.

He smiled. "You saved my ass. I thought it was fair that I returned the favor." He looked at Shura, obviously taking a little break. "Now we need to talk strategy. Neither of us can take her out. She's way out of our league."

I sat up. "That's because my grandfather taught her. If he taught her the way he taught me, there's no way." Then it occurred to me. "Tag team."

"What?"

"Tag team. It's popular in America. Teams of two will take each other on, one fighting at a time. When one gets tired, the other leaps in. If we can do that, we might have a chance. You in?" he nodded. "Good. I'm in first. I'll let you know when to come in."

Standing up, I flipped Shura off. "Up yours, Implants!" I yelled, getting her attention. She smirked again. _You know what? Screw it,_ I thought, sheathing my sword. There's a reason I was feared for my fists in America, and that was because I could do a lot of damage with them. Plus I didn't have to haul the sword around. Taking off the sheath, I knew this could either be a really good decision, allowing more attacks and flexibility, or a really, incredibly _stupid_ one, throwing away my chief weapon. I really hoped it was the former. This time I wouldn't let her get a leg up on me. I charged her, left fist ready. She had her sword in an unreadable position. The attack could come from any side. It came from the lower right, cutting me, causing red blood to come out of the wound. Wait. _Red_ blood? What was happening? _Michael? Raphael?_

_Yes? _The latter responded.

_What is this?_

_Your body took a great toll, using your 'gift' for the length of time you did. I'm working, but your blood has lost the properties it had before. You are, for the moment, 'only human'. I can only offer you guidance. _

I cursed before yelling, "Rin!"

He nodded, leaping into action. I held my side in pain. It looked like I was out for the rest of the fight. I watched as Shura bit her thumb, chanting again, watching the sword grow. Rin's flames emerged. I wanted to help. But I couldn't get up. _Wait… _Rin was holding his own against her, and he was winning. Eventually he won, disarming her and pinning her to the wall, katana at her throat. I listened to her tell that she was taught by Fujimoto, and how she learned with Yukio.

After Rin said something, gesturing to me, she took out a roll of gauze wrapping it around my wound. "Listen. I'm sorry about being rude about yer grandfather. He was a great teacher, even though he was old when he got around to teaching me. He'd brag about yer, yer and yer siblings. His smart but reckless grandson, his smart but snooty granddaughter, and the youngest one who was talented but rebellious. He loved yer all, and I'm sorry I couldn't come to his funeral. I mean every respect when I say yer just like him. As for that brother of yers…" she smiled, "is it just me or is he a few rounds short of a full clip?"

"He's pretty nutso. Now… to introduce myself _properly_… Leigh Smith." I held out my hand.

She took it. "Shura."

I looked at my still-bleeding wound. Chuck was going to _murder_ her, I realized. I remember how he'd react when I was picked on as a kid. "_Nobody_ hurts my little sister."

Well, damn.

**A/N: So… that's that! Sorry for the long update!**


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